


Mental Abuse

by PandaTabby



Series: A Living Nightmare [4]
Category: Dead by Daylight (Video Game), Delitoonz - Fandom, Septiplier - Fandom
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-03-01
Updated: 2017-03-31
Packaged: 2018-09-27 17:53:58
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 14
Words: 26,121
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10037204
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PandaTabby/pseuds/PandaTabby
Summary: Avery Mellon is a 14 ½ year old girl who is a huge fan of the three YouTubers Markiplier, Jacksepticeye, and H2O Delirious, and her heart’s deepest desired wish is to get the chance to meet them all in person. Her dream comes true, but not in the way that she expected, or wanted. Instead of a dream, it’s more of a living nightmare.Map: Crotus Prenn AsylumKiller: The Nurse





	1. A Change In The Rules

It was dark when Avery opened her eyes, but when they adjusted, she could see stone walls around her. She was inside the Asylum, and this was made obvious by the bloodied mattress on the floor nearby. Avery stood up and started slowly making her way around the cold hallways.

 

She was alone, but that was no surprise. Avery only knew so much about this particular map and its killer; most of those facts belonging to The Nurse. Just considering those facts made being alone on a map with a killer that could teleport wasn’t a good thing. It never was a good thing.

 

Avery was already nervous, and she jumped slightly whenever something around her made a sound. She didn’t run, and instead froze in place to listen. She couldn’t be sure if the noise was coming from the inside the Asylum’s walls, because they would echo off them and fill the stone corridors for a few seconds. She also couldn’t be sure if they were from The Nurse or one of the others.

 

All of the noises around her made Avery anxious, especially since she couldn’t find an exit from the building. If an exit wasn’t a current option, Avery was instead looking for a box so she could have some sort of supply to start with, or a generator, which would be greatly helpful. What she wanted to find most, though, was obviously one of the others.

 

Jack’s death had left them all torn up, but she knew that Mark would be the one who suffered the most from it. It actually wouldn’t be much of a surprise to Avery if Mark was still broken by it, but then again, it was kind of her fault in the first place. Avery shook her head to clear it of the thought. She needed to find the others, and letting her own thoughts take control of her wasn’t the best choice right now.

 

Avery kept walking nervously through the hallways, and was relieved when she finally found a staircase she could use to get down to the first floor safely. She’d passed a hole in the floor somewhere down the hall, but jumping that far down could send an alerting sound throughout the stone hallways. One of the others might think it was danger and run, or The Nurse would come and investigate and possibly catch her.

 

Avery shivered at the thought of getting hooked like Delirious had been, and then suddenly felt a horrible sensation of guilt and worry for him. Was he okay? Getting reunited with Cartoonz inside this game obviously must have been shocking for him, and now that the two of them were separated once more, it was probably a little scary.

 

Now, as Avery went down the steps, she caught a glimpse of a strange hallway in front of her. Curiously but cautiously, Avery made her way to it and peeked around the corner. It was a dead end, with a few mattresses lying abandoned on the floor. There really wasn’t anything interesting to see, but then Avery saw the small paper on the wall. She approached it slowly and took it off the dirty stone wall.

 

_ Hello, players. It would appear that you have made it this far without dying, though I cannot say the same for one of you particular. You also seem to have gained a new player, so that leaves you still at four. Whomever may be reading this right now, you are about to learn something that may come as disturbing. This map has no safe point. There is no hideout this time, but there are only five generators. Playing against The Nurse will be no easy feat, though. Want to know more about this particular killer? Consult Avery for details, for she knows the backstories. _

 

Avery blinked. No hideout? Only five generators? What had her creeped out the most was the fact that the note had information relating to what had happened on the previous map. Jack had died, and Cartoonz had come in. Although the note didn’t say how he’d ended up in the game, Avery was suddenly getting an idea; perhaps Delirious had something to do with it.

 

The message that Avery still held in her hands had left her uneasy, and she was suddenly desperate to find Mark, Delirious, or Cartoonz. Finding all of them would be great, but she really just didn’t want to be alone anymore. Not after discovering that there was no safe point on this map. It made sense, in a way. The Nurse could teleport, so she might end up inside the hideout by accident, and completely ruin the point of the place.

 

Avery shook away the thought and let the note fall to the floor. She turned around and started looking for an exit again. She wandered through the hallways for several minutes before she finally came across an exit. It was the front entrance of the entire building, but from both the inside and outside, it didn’t look too grand anymore.

 

The overhang was missing and the pillars that had once held it up were crumbled. Past the entrance itself were a ton of trees, all of which were burnt up and some were even still lit with smoldered flames. Avery had no idea why, because she had no idea about anything on this map. She knew that it was called the Crotus Prenn Asylum, but that was about it.

 

Taking a deep breath in hopes to regain a bit of needed confidence, Avery marched on forward and looked around her, studying the surroundings and keeping an eye and ear out for one of the others. The map was really weird to Avery for a few reasons, one of them being the air. It smelled clean when it looked smoky from whatever fire had occurred here, and there were strange items scattered here and there between the trees.

 

Large crates of  what looked to be gardening tools and supplies, and broken machinery items were scattered around as well. Too bad that none of them happened to be one of the five generators. That was one of the other things that had Avery a bit confused; why were there only five generators, the normal number one had to repair in  _ Dead By Daylight  _ anyways, on this map when on all the others it was a higher number?

 

Avery was distracted by her thoughts that she didn’t hear the faint screech nearby. When she came out of it, she spotted something up ahead. Getting excited, Avery ran the rest of the way to the hook and stopped just underneath it. Her hopeful grin dropped when she noticed something different about the hook. There was no clip or binding, but rather a metal webbing for the beam. Even from the ground Avery could see that the hook was melded into the beam.

 

There was no taking these hooks down.

 

No hideout. No information on the map. Very little known about The Nurse. Inability To take down the hooks. Avery had never felt more helpless in a situation before, and this one made her finicky.

 

Avery examined the pillar the beam was attached to, and found that it could be taken apart with some kind of tool. That was just great. Five generators, hooks you could only take down with a tool of some sort, and no safe point. Avery huffed at the horrible realization that they would be playing this map by following the original rules of  _ Dead By Daylight _ .

 

Although she was particularly good at the game, even Avery wasn’t sure about winning. Not this time. Her thought changed to Mark, Delirious, and Cartoonz, and she was suddenly very worried about the three men. Mark and Delirious may have been playing along since the beginning, but they hadn’t seen the note, and this map wasn’t out yet, so they knew absolutely nothing about it. Just like Avery. To make things worse, Cartoonz had only joined in the previous round, so there was a chance that he was still adjusting to everything going on around him.

 

Avery thought that she suddenly screamed with panic, but then quickly realized that the shriek hadn’t come from her; it came from The Nurse. Spinning around to locate her, Avery spotted the gray cloaked form and ran from the spot, sprinting through the tall, dead grass and weaving around burnt trees.

 

Something whooshed past her and stopped several yards ahead, causing Avery to halt. The Nurse materialized in front of her, nodding her head painfully before recovering from her teleportation and standing above Avery.

 

Avery was frozen with fear, her eyes wide with panic as the Nurse raised what looked like a bone-saw to cut down into her.


	2. The Gamer's Graveyared

Cartoonz thought that it had all been a dream, and that he was about to wake up in the hospital with major injuries. But when he opened his eyes, a dark, hazy forest canopy was above him. Well, at least he was with Delirious, right? Nope. When Cartoonz sat up and looked around him, he saw that he was completely alone. Sighing, Cartoonz let himself fall back onto the ground and lay there for a minute or two.

 

Being inside a videogame wasn’t something one would think as possible, and even if Cartoonz tried to tell someone about it, they most likely wouldn’t believe it, not unless he had proof. But how the hell was he supposed to get that? Proving that his experience was real wasn’t what was important right now. Finding Delirious was, though, and Cartoonz flew to his feet at the thought of his new boyfriend. He was already injured, and thinking about Delirious getting into any kind of worse condition was enough to make Cartoonz break down.

 

Pushing the thoughts aside, Cartoonz looked around to get the layout of his current surroundings. It looked like he was in graveyard, since there were headstones placed in lines around him. Graveyard? He didn’t remember any of the maps having a graveyard, so this must be that new one that’s scheduled to come out some time in the next few months. Fantastic, a map he knew nothing about.

 

Cartoonz started walking among the headstones slowly, seeming interested in the names that were carved into each one. Many of them were quite random, but there was one or two that he recognized as one of the characters in the game like Dwight and Meg. All of the headstones had the reason each person was now dead, and some of them were a bit disturbing.

 

_ Jason Maybin  
_ _ 1843-1865  
_ __ Strangled

 

_ George Havinty  
_ _ 1857-1889  
_ __ Suicide

 

_ Maybella Venning  
_ _ 1834-1863  
_ __ Unknown Cause of Death

 

Cartoonz paused at the last one.  _ Unknown Cause of death?  _ He thought. “This place is crazy.” He muttered quietly.

 

Cartoonz turned away from the headstone and started looking for an exit from the graveyard. He finally spotted a gate and made his way towards it, but then something caught his eye and he stopped again. Looking slowly at it, Cartoonz blinked at what he saw. One of the headstones was marked not with writing, but with a drawing.

 

Cartoonz stepped a little closer and felt his breath catch in his throat. The image was of a green eye with a blue iris, and he didn’t need to ask anyone to know what it was. It was Jack’s symbol. Normally, they were the ones who played the game, but it seemed to be that this time it was the game playing them. Jack had been killed on the previous map, and now his symbol was here in the graveyard on the next map.

 

If the game was keeping track of everything that happened to them and adjusting each map to fit those previous events, than did that mean that the killers were the same way? If that was the case, then that meant The Trapper and now this killer knew what happened to Delirious, and that got Cartoonz worried.

 

Seeing Jack’s symbol on a headstone here left Cartoonz a little freaked out, and he turned quickly to run from the graveyard. He forced the metal gate open and looked around the outside of the graveyard quickly. The graveyard was surrounded by a tall brick wall that was covered thickly in ivy, so he couldn’t see much beyond it.

 

Cartoonz started to slowly wander around the outside of the wall, being cautious and too anxious to not stray too far away from the wall. He wasn’t sure what it was, but he was getting the weirdest feeling that he shouldn’t actually go anywhere.

 

Suddenly, Cartoonz caught a flicker of movement in the corner of his eye and he froze. Examining the area where he’d seen the slight motion, Cartoonz held his breath and tried to keep his hopes down. If he got them too high, he might get a huge wave of disappointment if it wasn’t Delirious.

 

There was a strange sounding screech that sounded inhuman to him, and then Cartoonz saw where it came from. It was a bit distant, but he could just barely see something gray and cloaked, and then there was someone by it. One of the others, Cartoonz quickly realized, and he started running towards them.

 

He realized that it was Avery when she screamed in terror, and Cartoonz started sprinting. He jumped in front of Avery and practically shoved the. . . killer back. He grabbed Avery by the arm as The Nurse suddenly teleported away.

 

“Cartoonz!?” Avery gasped, recognizing him quickly.

 

“Come on!” Cartoonz said quickly as The Nurse reappeared.

 

Avery ran with him away from where The Nurse was currently standing. They stopped and hid behind a large tree. Cartoonz was panting a little from his sudden run-n-rescue, but the Avery covered his mouth with her hand.

 

“Shh,” she said in a really low whisper that Cartoonz could barely hear. “She can hear our breathing. Keep as silent as possible.” Avery explained.

 

She took her hand off of Cartoonz’s mouth and he let out a soft, long breath. His breath evened out suddenly and he stood as still and as quiet as he could next to Avery. Avery slowly peeked around the tree to see The Nurse with her back to them. The Nurse flashed for a second, and then was gone the next. She’d teleported away in the opposite direction, meaning that for now, Avery and Cartoonz were safe.

 

Avery looked at Cartoonz and gave him a nod. “She’s gone,” she said, still in a low whisper. “Have you found anything?” she asked him a second later.

 

Cartoonz thought for a moment.  _ Should I tell her? _ He wondered. He looked at Avery and nodded. “Yeah, but you may not like what it is.” he said.

 

Avery cocked her head slightly in confusion, but she followed Cartoonz back towards the graveyard. Cartoonz didn’t know how Avery would react to seeing Jack’s headstone, but he knew that it wouldn’t help with their current situation. Then why was he taking her to it? Because he felt that maybe she should know what the game was doing with them. That it was playing them in all the wrong ways.

 

“What is this?” Avery asked when they reached the graveyard wall.

 

“It’s a graveyard.” Cartoonz answered.

 

“Graveyard?” Avery repeated, looking down the ivy covered brick wall. “That means it must be for whatever patients were here at Crotus Prenn.”

 

Cartoonz didn’t actually know what that was, but he would ask her after showing Avery the headstone. He pushed open the metal gate, which creaked loudly, threatening to break off it’s hinges. Avery stepped inside the graveyard and Cartoonz started leading her through all of the different headstones. They were all the same; half ovals with the person’s name, their date of birth and death. Most said how they died, while others had that part scratched out or had been left blank

 

“This place is giving me the creeps,” Avery said. “I never liked the feel of graveyards to begin with, especially after the accident.”

 

“Accident?” Cartoonz asked before he could stop himself, but Avery didn’t seemed bothered by it.

 

“Yeah, my Aunt and my little brother died in an accident. After that, my dislike for graveyards only got worse,” Avery explained.

 

Cartoonz felt a stab of uncertainty. “Well,” he began. “Then you might not like what I’ve found.” He stopped.

 

Avery was still looking around at the headstones in rows, and she ended up running into Cartoonz. “What do you mean by that?” she asked when she realized he’d stopped.

 

Cartoonz turned around and pointed towards the headstone. Avery’s eyes followed and froze on the headstone. She blinked.

 

“T-That’s. . . !” she was suddenly unable to speak.

 

“I recognized it the moment I saw it, and I knew that things were switched,” Cartoonz said.

 

“Switched?” Avery repeated, very confused now.

 

“Yeah, switched. I’m guessing you, Mark, Jack, and Del all thought that it was you guys who were playing the game?” Cartoonz asked.

 

“Well, yeah, obviously,” Avery said awkwardly. “Why?” she asked a second later.

 

“I actually think that it’s the game that’s playing us,” Cartoonz pointed out.

 

Avery gasped. The headstone with Jack’s symbol, the note she’d found that had said Jack hadn’t made it and a “new player” was now with them. It all made sense suddenly! The game was testing them for certain things, a few of which she would still need time to figure out, and one of them being friendship or loyalty.

 

“Avery?” Cartoonz snapped Avery out of her thoughts.

 

“What?” Avery blinked a few times to figure out what was going on again.

 

“Are you okay?” Cartoonz asked.

 

“Yeah, I’m fine. Just a little. . . shocked, is all,” Avery said.

 

Cartoonz was silent for a minute. “Can I ask you something?” he said a moment later.

 

“Sure. What?” Avery looked at him.

 

“What exactly do you know about this place?” Cartoonz asked.

 

“It depends on what you mean, because I know practically nothing on this particular map,” Avery said.

 

“Just anything you know at all,” Cartoonz clarified.

 

“Oh,” Avery looked at the ground for a moment before she sat down. Cartoonz got on the ground in front of her and crossed his legs. “Well, I do know a little bit about the Asylum, like how it was in a fire and no one did anything to put it out.” she explained.

 

Cartoonz looked around them quickly before turning back to Avery.

 

“The Nurse was working at Crotus Prenn Asylum after her husband was killed during one of his shifts at a lumberjack company. She eventually went insane after working here for more than two decades and then went on a killing spree, taking out fifty patients.” Avery explained. “I guess that she finally lost it and set fire to the building herself. I’m not sure about that part, but there’s a chance it’s true.”

 

Cartoonz was silent.

 

“The worst part has nothing to do with Sally Smithson or the Asylum, but I found a note that said there’s no safe point this time.” Avery added worriedly.

 

“No safe point?” Cartoonz was suddenly alarmed.

 

Avery shook her head. “No hideout on this map, so nowhere is safe for us. But on the plus side, there’s only five generators.” she explained.

 

“Fewer to fix, quicker escape,” Cartoonz said.

 

“Yup,” Avery agreed. “But we should find Mark and Delirious so that no one gets left behind or whatever.”

 

Cartoonz stood up and helped Avery to her feet. They started heading back towards the gate and cautiously looked around them at the smokey forest around them.

 

“Which way should we go?” Cartoonz asked.

 

“Any way, we’ll find them eventually.” Avery said.

 

They turned right and followed a faded path on the ground, stopping every now and then when they heard a distant screech from The Nurse. The other map had been creepy enough, but this one was so much worse and Cartoonz wasn’t sure if he could handle it for very long.

 

The smokey air around them was starting to burn the inside of his throat,  and Cartoonz started coughing. Avery looked back at him worriedly, as the air was irritating her as well. She looked around, and then up to see that some of the trees were still smoldering and realized that it must be the ash they were breathing in.

 

Avery spotted an area that didn’t look too bad and jogged over to it with Cartoonz close behind her. The air was definitely clearer over here, and Cartoonz took a few deep breaths.

 

“What the hell is that?” Cartoonz asked suddenly.

 

Avery looked at him and saw he was looking towards something and followed his gaze. It was a light, but it didn’t look like any normal light. It was flickering in an odd kind of way, and it was making Avery curious.

 

“It looks like fire to me,” Cartoonz said.

 

Now that he had, Avery could see it that way too. The way the light flickered did look a lot like flames.

 

“What would a fire be doing still lit?” She half asked herself.

 

“Maybe we should check it out?” Cartoonz suggested nervously.

 

Avery wasn’t sure, and she would have actually made the decision to turn around if she hadn’t spotted two forms near the bright flames.

 

“Okay, let’s go, then,” She said.

 

Cartoonz seemed a little surprised, even though he was the one who had voiced the idea. He followed Avery towards the fading firelight, and when he saw the two figures, his eye widened. He felt a smile form on his face when he recognized the two figures and ran forward to meet them.

 

“Delirious!” Cartoonz cried, relieved at knowing that Delirious was alright.

 

Delirious turned at the cry and when he spotted Cartoonz, he ran to meet him halfway. The two were wrapped around each other in a tight hug in seconds, glad to just be reunited once more, even though it actually hadn’t been that long since either of them woke up on the last map.

 

Avery was walking up to Delirious and Cartoonz, who had parted now and were talking quietly with each other. She felt a smirk form on her lips at the thought of something deeper going on between the two. Something deeper and much more than simple friendship.

 

Mark, who had been following after Delirious, was standing away from the others, watching quietly. His silence was going unnoticed, just as he was going unseen for the moment. Then Avery looked over at him and her grin faded. Her eyes caught on something red that was staining his skin.

 

Mark was bleeding.


	3. Delirious Plays With Fire

Delirious was quick to get up and look around the moment he opened his eyes. He wanted to get his bearings quickly so that he might find Cartoonz sooner than later. But when he looked around, he saw nothing familiar.

 

_ This must be that new map that’s been announced, _ he guessed.

 

He was in a rather small clearing that must have once been a courtyard, with high metal fences surrounding the whole area. The metal was covered in overgrowth, and dead leaves dotted the ground. Delirious glimpsed a few splotches of dried blood here and there as well, and was immediately not liking the new map, even though it wasn’t out yet.

 

Delirious slowly made his way towards a broken part of the fence that he could leave the courtyard through, and when he stepped out he was immediately greeted by a choking smell. The air had a smoky tinge to it, and it stung inside his nose. Delirious had to take his mask off and wipe his face to try and get rid of it.

 

Once he got his mask back on, Delirious took a few steps forward, but froze when he heard an unfamiliar noise nearby. It sounded like a horribly pained screech, and sent chills down Delirious’ spine. Then he saw what had made the noise and his eyes widened. Delirious quickly ducked behind a dying hedge next to the fence.

 

The killer was dressed from head to toe in a dark gray blanket, with two black gloves that one of which held a bone saw. To add to that, it seemed to be floating an inch or two above the ground.

 

The Nurse turned away from where Delirious was hiding, and he took advantage of the moment and started to sneak away. He didn’t get very far before running into a generator. Why was it that he always seemed to run into one soon after starting on a new map? Or was that just on the last map. . . ?

 

Shaking his head, Delirious stopped on the other side of the generator so that he could keep an eye on The Nurse while he made what repairs he could manage with one arm. It didn’t help that he was shaking a little from the killer being so close by, but once Delirious found that there wasn’t really anything else that he could do, he left the generator to go look for the others.

 

While he’d been working on the generator, The Nurse had disappeared, but it wasn’t long before Delirious spotted her again. She seemed to be circling something, guarding it. He was interested as to what it was, but with The Nurse there, he couldn’t approach it. Delirious looked around for something that he could cause a distraction with, and he found an empty bin discarded on the ground.

 

He took the bin and walked away from The Nurse. Stopping a couple yards away from where it had started, Delirious placed the bin upright on the ground again and started trying to break it apart. It was plastic, so it should make a loud snapping sound when it broke.

 

Finally, after a few minutes, the loud crack of the bin breaking startled Delirious that he was nearly a second too late to escape. He got away from the bin just as The Nurse teleported over to it. He didn’t see it happen though, because he was still running towards the area she’d been patrolling.

 

What Delirious found was a hook. Slightly disappointed, Delirious looked it over and discovered it was different from the hooks on the previous three maps. There was no way to simply take the hook off the beam that held it up anymore, because it was melded onto it. What Delirious found strange about the new design, though, was the entire stand itself.

 

The hook and the beam were metal, but the pillar that held it up was built from wood. That must mean that the beam was hollow, because otherwise there wasn’t much chance that the pillar could support it. But if it was made from wood. . . Was there another way to destroy the hooks? Was it still possible to take them down, only a different tactic must be used?

 

Delirious looked around him hurriedly, not sure whether or not The Nurse would return to this particular hook at any moment or at all. Hopefully, he was on his own for a while yet, and would have the time to figure out a way to get rid of the dangerous object. Maybe it was the fact that they had used the hooks as weapons to defend themselves on the MacMillian Estate that cause the design to change on this one.

 

Going with that theory, Delirious started exploring the area around the hook. He found a dirty bag and opened it. There were a few items, a few of which he was confused by, but others he was sure to make useful. There was a lighter, a couple of sticks, and some gasoline. The gas was in a small container that was filled almost to the top, and what actually looked like chopsticks (now that Delirious had a better look at them) had pieces of paper wrapped around one end.

 

Suddenly, Delirious had an idea. It was dangerous, very dangerous, but it was worth a try. He picked up the bag and went back to the hook where he started thoroughly examining the pillar. There was an opening conveniently placed in the back of it, and he set the bag down again. He took one of the sticks and dipped the paper covered end in the gas, then took the lighter and and set the end on the fire. Then dropped it through the gap.

 

Within seconds, a surprisingly short amount of time, the entire pillar was up in flames. Delirious closed the bag and ran away from the bright fire with it. He stopped a pretty safe distance away to watch what happened. A minute or two passed and then he heard a distant creaking. The pillar broke and the whole thing collapsed, making the hook unusable.

 

_ Well, that takes care of things, _ Delirious thought.

 

A sudden sense of enjoyment filled Delirious, and he was curious about it for a moment before he realized that what he’d just done. . . was  _ fun. _ Oh dear, now he was going to end up playing with fire, the one thing that he’d always been terrified of doing when he was kid. That was because of what he’d done a long time ago with a few matches.

 

Shoving the thought aside, Delirious stood up again and started looking for another hook to burn down. The strange enjoyment he got from doing it to that first one was probably going to end up driving him over the edge of sanity, making him lose it completely. If he hadn’t lost all his sanity already just from being inside a videogame that is, and  _ Dead By Daylight  _ no less.

 

Delirious wasn’t sure, but he knew that he wasn’t just looking some more hooks, but for the others as well. Especially Cartoonz. Delirious didn’t know how long he was walking for, but his energy was suddenly fading and he stopped to take a break. Maybe he would come across the hideout soon and could take a nap then?

 

The thought of sleep only made Delirious more tired, and he shut his eyes for only a moment. Or at least he thought it was a moment. It felt like a lot of time had passed when he opened them again, but at the same time as if it had only been a few minutes. Suddenly alert, Delirious flew to his feet and looked around him nervously. The dead forest was silent, and nothing seemed to have changed about him.

 

Delirious started walking again until he spotted another hook in the distance. Getting excited, he made to go towards it, but then something made him stop. There was a flicker of movement in the corner of his eye, and Delirious caught a glimpse of red.

 

“H-Hello. . . ?” Delirious said quietly, not sure if he should be making any sounds. “Cartoonz? Or is that. . .” Delirious turned slowly, and then stopped when his eyes fell upon a figure. “Mark!”

 

Mark paused and looked fearfully at Delirious. If he recognized him, he didn’t make any attempt to show it.

 

“Mark?” Delirious took a careful step towards him, but Mark backed away with several of his own. “Mark, are you okay?” Delirious asked worriedly, Mark’s strange new behavior concerning him.

 

“D-Del-lirious?” Mark looked Delirious up and down carefully, trying to take in his form. “Delirious! Hey!” he moved towards him suddenly.

 

Delirious was rather puzzled by Mark’s actions, and he stared at him, a little freaked out. “Are you okay, Mark?” he asked again.

 

“What do you mean? Of course I’m okay! Why wouldn’t I be? I’m still alive, aren’t I? So that should make me okay!” Mark was speaking really quickly, and it was startling Delirious quite a bit. “. . . Right?” Mark said a moment later, looking at Delirious with a confused expression.

 

“I- I don’t know. It depends on w-what you mean?” Delirious said uncertainly.

 

“Hmm,” Mark gazed off into the distance, spacing out in front of Delirious.

 

“Mark,” Delirious snapped him back to reality. Mark looked at Delirious with an expression of sudden curiosity. “Have you seen either of the others?” Delirious asked.

 

Mark opened his mouth to answer, but instead shook his head. Delirious was willing to accept the answer if it meant he wouldn’t have to hear Mark rambling crazily again.

 

“Come on, I’m not leaving you here by yourself,” Delirious said, heading towards the hook again.

 

Mark followed him and stood aside to watch in a strange silence as Delirious sent the hook into flames. When it was torched, Delirious gave Mark the bag and signaled for him to follow and the red-haired man trotted after him. His rambling from earlier had freaked Delirious out a little, but now Mark’s sudden quietness was concerning him. Was something wrong?  
. . . Something other than Jack’s death?

 

“Delirious!” The sudden cry snapped Delirious from his thoughts and he looked over to see Cartoonz running towards him, Avery a little ways behind.

 

Delirious ran at Cartoonz and threw himself around him happily, letting out a sigh of relief at seeing Cartoonz unharmed. When Cartoonz let him go, Delirious looked into his eyes. . . er. . . eye.

 

“I’m glad you’re okay, man,” he said.

 

“You too,” Cartoonz replied. “What did you do back there?” he asked, looking towards the firelight.

 

“Oh, I set fire to one of the hooks,” Delirious answered.

 

“What? But Avery said that we can’t destroy the hooks this time,” Cartoonz said, puzzled.

 

“Did she now?” Delirious raised an eyebrow underneath his mask. “Well, I discovered that myself, thank you. But I also discovered that there is a new way to take `em out.” He would have crossed his arms at that moment, but that’s kind of hard to do when you can only move one of them. So instead Delirious slipped his hand into his sweater pocket.

 

“Mark, are you bleeding?” Avery’s voice dragged Delirious’ and Cartoonz’s attention towards Mark.

 

His arm was red, and Delirious didn’t know how he hadn’t noticed it before. But it was most definitely blood. It didn’t look like an injury that he’d received from anything, but more like a cut that had carefully been carved into the skin.

 

“J”


	4. Mark's Mind Mishap

Mark felt like he was dying on the inside. Even before he opened his eyes to see whatever the unlaunched map had in store for him, he thought that it might as well be the end. Jack was dead, and not long after they’d both finally told each other the way they felt, too. That only made things worse. Now they could never start something together after escaping the game.

 

When Mark did open his eyes and sat up to look around, he found himself in a small clearing lined with dead bushes and blackened trees. He stood up quickly and looked carefully at the area around him. He could just make out what must have been a hook in the direction of another large structure. The air was really dirty, with a smoky smell to it, so the distant structure, though very large as it appeared to look from Mark’s current perspective of it, was pretty blocked out.

 

Mark turned and went in the opposite direction, stopping only when he came across a box. He looked around once more, cautious when bending over to open the chest in front of him. He dug through all the contents and found a flashlight, which he stuffed into one of the pockets of his shorts before going through what was left in the chest. Mark was a little confused as to why he found a pocket knife buried in the discarded junk, but he took advantage of the small item.

 

Leaving the box’s lid open, Mark moved over to the nearest tree and settled himself on the ground. He flipped the knife open and started carving into the bark. He worked for a while, inputting his message that Jack would never read. Mark’s eyes began to sting a little with tears that were threatening to leak out as he had trouble with the last few words.

 

Once he was done, Mark closed the pocket knife and slipped it into his other pocket and continued his trek away from the clearing. He didn’t go far without coming across another hook. He paused next to the hook and stared at it for a minute or two. It’s shape wasn’t something that had bothered him before, but now it seemed to be a triggering object.

 

The way the hook came off the metal beam and went straight downwards, and then curving perfectly for the end. It made the shape of a “J”, and Mark suddenly realized what it was that he hated about it. The shape of the hook made the first letter of the name “Jack”, therefore, it reminded Mark of Jack.

 

Mark felt that he needed to get away from the hook, to get away from any reminders of Jack. So he ran from the hook, back towards the clearing where he’d started. Once he reached it, the thoughts of Jack wouldn’t leave him, and then Mark suddenly didn’t want them too. There were hooks everywhere with that particular shape that could give him the good memories from before getting trapped inside the game as well as the horrible one of him dying right in his arms.

 

Mark took the pocket knife out again and opened it. He place the blade on his arm, just below the crook of his elbow, and pressed against his skin with as much pressure as he could. Until he could no longer stand the pain, Mark started dragging the small silver blade down, making a curve for the bottom, making a “J” shape.

 

Blood dripped down his arm and onto the ground, staining the dirt with little droplets of red. Mark cleaned off the blade before putting the pocketknife away. His head twitched suddenly, and it had Mark confused. But then he decided to ignore it. Images were flashing through Mark’s mind, sending him into mental fits. His lip twitched into a smirk that lasted a second before it was gone again.

 

Mark slowly moved toward the hook that he’d seen earlier. There was a quiet whisper that sounded oddly familiar, and Mark moved slower. There was another whisper, and the Mark stepped into view and saw who was speaking.

 

“Mark!” They cried, sighing with relief at the sight of him.

 

Mark froze. Did he know this person? There was something familiar about him, but Mark just couldn’t place it at the moment, no matter how hard he searched his memory. He was looking for something recent that involved blue, but all that seemed to be coming up were Jack’s sky blue eyes. He looked fearfully at the man, not sure if he knew him at all, and wondered whether or not he should run.

 

“Mark?” The man repeated, taking a step towards him. Mark panicked and took several steps of his own backwards, away from the stranger.

 

But. . . was he really a stranger? Mark was starting to get something. A blue sweater, the mask that he was currently wearing, but there was no name. What his name?!

 

“Mark, are you okay?” The man asked worriedly.

 

A name suddenly came to the front of Mark’s memory. “D-Del-lirious?” Mark looked the man up and down carefully, taking in his form. The empty sweater sleeve and the dry blood stain on the front of clothes piece. Then the memory of rescuing Delirious from the hook back on Coldwind Farm flashed at the front Mark’s mind, and he recognized him. “Delirious! Hey!” Mark felt excited at seeing his friend again.

 

Delirious seemed a bit confused, and he was staring at Mark. “Are you okay?” he asked.

 

“What do you mean? Of course I’m okay! Why wouldn’t I be? I’m still alive, aren’t I? So that should make me okay!” Mark spoke uncontrollably fast, and he swallowed a rather large amount of spit to stop himself from talking at all. “Right?” he asked once he was sure he’d calmed down, at least a little bit. He looked at Delirious with slight confusion. Who was he again? Oh yeah, his friend. Duh!

 

“I-I don’t know. It depends on w-what you mean?” Delirious’ voice was filled with uncertainty as he spoke.

 

“Hmm,” Mark was distracted suddenly by something in the distance and stared off into space, supposedly looking for it. He forgot that Delirious was in front of him for a moment.

 

“Mark,” Mark blinked and looked at Delirious again. He felt suddenly curious about him, and as to why he was there in the first place. “Have you seen either of the others?” Delirious asked him.

 

Mark immediately opened his mouth to answer, but then thought that he might start speaking uncontrollably again and closed it, shaking his head instead to answer Delirious.

 

“Come on, I’m not leaving you here by yourself,” Delirious said, adjusting a bag over his right shoulder and heading over to the hook that Mark had been going towards in the first place.

 

Mark followed after him and stopped when he saw the shape of it. He looked down at his arm to tell himself that he can see it anytime he wanted now that his bloody “tattoo” was there. He watched Delirious in silence, fascinated by the way he was setting something really small on fire and then making it send the entire hook into flames. Delirious gave Mark the bag suddenly, and he blinked at him in confusion.

 

Delirious gestured for him to follow, and Mark threw the bag over his own shoulder and jogged lightly after Delirious. He was wondering suddenly on if Delirious was a bit freaked out by the way he was acting now, because the injured man kept glancing worriedly over his shoulder. At one point, Mark felt the need to do the same, as if there was something following them and Delirious was actually checking to be sure that there wasn’t.

 

“Delirious!”

 

Mark stopped and looked in the direction of the cry to see another person running towards them. Delirious ran forward as well to meet him, and he watched with curiosity as they pulled each other into a hug. There was a girl walking up behind the newcomer, and Mark was somehow able to recognize her quicker than Delirious or. . . uh. . . Cartoonz, was it? Yeah, Cartoonz.

 

The girl was Avery, and she was the reason they were there.

 

_ The reason that we’re here. . .  _ Mark thought suddenly. He felt his eye twitch with irritation at the thought. If Avery was the reason that they were all there in the first place, then that meant that Jack’s death was her fault.

 

Delirious and. . . Cartoonz were chatting with each other quietly, but Mark payed no mind to them. He didn’t blame either of them for anything. It was all on Avery. By bringing them there, Jack’s life was lost, and therefore he could never escape the game with them. Escape with Mark so that they could start a life together. He wasn’t sure what it was, but Mark was getting the feeling that there was more to the story than what he was getting from his crazed and mixed up mind. A memory that was extremely important, but he couldn’t find it anywhere, or even think of something that might lead his thoughts to it. It was locked away, as if his brain didn’t want him remembering.

 

“Mark, are you bleeding?” Avery asked suddenly, startling Mark momentarily.

 

He saw Cartoonz and Delirious look over at him, and then he remembered the cut again. Looking down at the still-bloody mark, Mark stared at it in bewilderment. Was that always there? The memory of carving it into his skin flashed over Mark’s eyes, and he looked up at Avery, Delirious, and Cartoonz again.

 

“I-I. . . guess so?” Mark squeaked.

 

Avery looked very startled by the confusion in Mark’s tone, and she looked at Delirious, who had been with him. But to her disappointment, he shrugged.

 

“He’s been acting pretty weird from the moment I ran into him,” Delirious explained. “Which actually wasn’t too long ago. Like, maybe a two minutes or so?” He added.

 

Avery looked worriedly at Mark, who was glancing between the three of them curiously.

 

_ What are they talking about?  _ Mark wondered.  _ Wasn’t it something about me. . . ? I don’t know. _

 

Mark was wondering where they were at the moment, since there was smoke in the trees above them, and the trees themselves seemed to be dotted with strange, glowing orange dots.

 

“What are those supposed to be?” Mark murmured to himself, dumbfounded.

 

Avery’s shoulders sagged, as she was close enough to him to hear his words. She stared blankly at him, at a loss for words. She turned to stare at Delirious.

 

Delirious watched Mark as he turned in small circles, staring up at the sky. Then he noticed that Avery was looking at him. “What?” he asked, a little confused.

 

“What happened to him?!” Avery demanded, keeping her voice at a whisper so that Mark wouldn’t hear them.

 

“What do you mean?” Delirious asked.

 

“Do you know what happened before you ran into him? Like, at all?” Avery asked.

 

“No,” Delirious answered.

 

Avery looked back at Mark, who was still staring upwards.

 

What  _ had _ happened to him?


	5. The New Plan

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> To answer the question of if Mark lost himself from losing Jack; yes, he did.

The situation with Mark was very confusing for them all, but Avery, Delirious, and Cartoonz let him do his thing while they tried to figure out a game plan.

 

“So, I found something inside the Asylum, which is where I woke up,” Avery began. “It was a note that said we have only five generators to repair, and that there is no hideout on this map.” she explained to Delirious, as Cartoonz already knew most of this.

 

“No hideout!?” Delirious exclaimed loudly, making Mark look at them with a startled expression.

 

“Delirious! Keep it down! The Nurse can hear us  _ breathing, _ so I’m sure that your yelling would most definitely bring her over,” Avery explained hastily in a low whisper.

 

“Right, I apologize my sudden outburst,” Delirious said quietly.

 

“That’s fine, just try to watch your volume from now on,” Avery warned. Delirious nodded. “Well, with no hideout, that means there’s no safe place for us here, now. We’re all out in the danger zone one hundred percent of the time,” Avery continued. “With that said, I don’t think we can take down the hooks this time, either. Their design is different.”

 

“Objection, if I may,” Delirious said suddenly. Avery blinked at him. “I found a way to destroy them.” Delirious stated.

 

Avery raised an eyebrow, not sure if Delirious was just trying to lighten the mood or not. “How is that, then?” she asked.

 

“We can’t tear them down, but we can  _ burn _ them down,” Delirious explained. “That’s what that light was that got us together again.”

 

“Oh,” Avery said. She checked on Mark quickly before moving back to the game plan.

 

“I still have some of the stuff left that we need to set fire to the hooks, so we can burn down any others that we come across, too.” Delirious said.

 

“Okay, so at least we don’t need to worry about that, then,” Avery sighed. “With that noted, and only five generators, I don’t think that their placing is random.”

 

“Perhaps they’re all placed in specific locations. Ones that are really similar to each other?” Cartoonz suggested.

 

“The corners of the map!” Delirious gasped, making sure to keep his voice volume in check. “I came across a generator earlier, and it was pretty near one of the corners of the map.” He explained.

 

“There’s only four corners, I would assume, so I’m going to take a wild guess and say that the fifth generator is in the center of the map,” Avery said. She suddenly looked frustrated with herself. “To think that I was that close to one!” she complained.

 

“Calm down, Avery,” Cartoonz said. “Wait, where did Mark go?” he looked around suddenly.

 

Avery and Delirious did the same.

 

“I’m right here,” Mark’s voice startled them and they looked over to see Mark sitting on the ground a few yards away, drawing something into the dirt.

 

Avery rolled her eyes. “I swear, something happened to him. Something serious,” she said. “I guess that Jack’s death hit him harder then any of us. . .” she sighed and poked at the ground with her finger.

 

Cartoonz and Delirious fell silent, glancing at Mark worriedly. Mark was now admiring his work, but he must not have been happy with the final product, because he brushed his hands violently over the ground where he’d been drawing.

 

“I think he’s snapped,” Cartoonz said suddenly.

 

“Let’s not think of it that way, please. I’d hate to have caused him this much pain. Not that it matters, since I already have. . .” Avery sighed sadly.

 

“Why don’t we just look on the bright side for now and try to get the fuck out of here?” Delirious suggested.

 

“Sounds like a plan,” Mark shouted over at them in agreement before rocking forward and backwards.

 

“Listen to crazy over there? Or what?” Cartoonz raised an eyebrow, changing his gaze from Avery to Delirious, then at Mark.

 

“I guess so,” Avery said.


	6. Mark's Insanity And Separation

Avery, Delirious, and Cartoonz stood up to start looking for one of the generators, but they didn’t forget about Mark. Delirious walked up to him to tell him that they were leaving. Mark had stood up again and was looking up at the treetops high above them, seeming fascinated by the pale orange light of smoldered flames.

 

“Hey, Mark, we’re going now but we can’t leave you behind,” Delirious said, feeling a bit like an idiot. Just because Mark was a few years younger than him didn’t exactly make him an idiot.

 

Mark stopped looking above him and switched his gaze to Delirious, his expression turning excited. “Hi!” he said cheerfully.

 

Delirious blinked. He glanced quickly to the side awkwardly. “Uh,” Delirious looked at Mark again. “Hi?” he was a bit puzzled.

 

“Who are you?” Mark asked suddenly, startling not only Delirious, but Avery and Cartoonz as well.

 

“Mark, what. . . what do you mean? We’ve gone through most of this ordeal together! How do you not recognize me?” Delirious asked, thoroughly confused.

 

“Hmm, I don’t know,” Mark said. “But I am getting that feeling like I know you from somewhere.”

 

Delirious looked over at Avery and Cartoonz, who were just as bewildered as he was.

 

“Maybe it’s the mask,” Mark said thoughtfully. Delirious turned to him again. “I might know you, but I can’t be sure. Maybe if I saw your face I’ll figure it out?” Mark was looking Delirious over curiously.

 

Delirious was quick to push his mask up, as Mark had seen his face before. Mark stood there for several moments with his mouth open and his index finger pointing upwards.

 

“No, I’ve got nothing,” Mark stated.

 

Delirious’ eyebrows inched up his forehead. “Mark, have you lost your marbles or something? It’s me, Delirious!” he looked over Mark’s expressionless face.

 

Sudden realization spread over Mark’s features and he gasped. “Ohhhh, you’re that. . . that. . . that guy!” he said excitedly.

 

Delirious facepalmed himself. He looked to Avery and Cartoonz for help, but they seemed unable to comprehend what was going on just as much as he was. Delirious sighed and turned to Mark again. “Well, come on, we’ve got somewhere to go and we need you to come with us.”

 

“Okay! I guess I could follow you guys,” Mark said.

 

Delirious went over to join Cartoonz and Avery, and Mark followed after him. Whatever the hell had happened with Mark, it had left him really scatterbrained. To Delirious, Avery, and Cartoonz, Mark was having some kind of memory mishap. But for Mark, he couldn’t stop seeing certain memories.

 

Images of Jack were constantly appearing in his mind, and even in front of him. He was hallucinating, but wouldn’t let the others know. Mark may have been slowly losing his mind, but he could still tell when someone was concerned about him. Mark kept losing sight of where he was going, but he was quick to remember what he was doing; following Avery. He never forgot who she was, since Jack was dead because her.

 

Every now and then, the happy memories that played in Mark’s head would turn dark and he was seeing that horrible memory of most recent occurrence. He was watching Jack die in his arms all over again. Each time that happened, a fresh surge of anger would pulse through Mark’s veins and he would feel a new found hatred towards Avery.

 

Avery was totally unaware of Mark’s hate fits that occurred inside his head, but she would glance over her shoulder at him every now and then.

 

“What do you think is going through his head?” Cartoonz asked her.

 

Avery shrugged. “I don’t know, but I get the feeling that it might be something about Jack,” she said.

 

“What makes you say that?” Delirious wondered out loud. He realized his mask was still up and slipped it down over his face again.

 

“The shape of the cut on his arm,” Avery explained. “It looks like the letter ‘J’ if you look at it from the right angle, and it doesn’t look like something else made it.”

 

Cartoonz looked back and studied Mark for a moment. “So, you’re saying that he made the cut himself?” he asked.

 

“Basically,” Avery answered.

 

The three walked on in silence for a minute or two before they heard the thudding footsteps of Mark running up behind them.

 

“What’s that thing?!” Mark asked loudly, stopping in front of the others and pointing ahead of them.

 

Cartoonz, Avery, and Delirious stopped walking and looked at where Mark was pointing. It was a generator. Avery jogged over to it and looked around before sticking her hands into the machine and started fixing things. Cartoonz joined her while Delirious hesitated. He looked at Mark, who was watching with wide, fascinated eyes.

 

“Do you want to help?” Delirious asked him dully.

 

“Sure!” Mark exclaimed cheerfully, and he joined Avery and Cartoonz. He watched what they were doing before trying it himself, and then Mark discovered how easy this task seemed to be. “I seem to be a natural at this!” he stated happily.

 

Delirious huffed and rolled his eyes. Mark’s strange new behavior was concerning, but it was also starting to become a little annoying if not amusing. The light finally came on above the generator, and the group moved on quickly. They couldn’t have gotten a safe distance away any sooner, because when Cartoonz looked over his shoulder, he spotted Sally Smithson circling the now working generator, searching for those that had just been there.

 

“What a rush!” Mark said suddenly, causing Cartoonz to cover his mouth quickly with his hand.

 

Mark blinked at him in confusion, but Cartoonz didn’t take his hand down until Avery nodded to say that it was okay.

 

“What was that all about?” Mark asked.

 

“The Nurse can hear us breathing, so I had to stop you from talking so that she wouldn’t come over here,” Cartoonz explained.

 

“Wait, she can hear our breath?!” Delirious exclaimed through a whisper, his eyes wide beneath his mask.

 

Avery nodded. “And you’ve already seen that she can teleport.”

 

“Just throw the most difficult killer on to the hardest map, why don’t you whatever put us here?” Delirious muttered.

 

Mark looked quickly at Avery, but he pulled his gaze away so that she wouldn’t catch the anger showing in his eyes.  _ It was Avery, _ Mark wanted to tell Delirious and. . . Cartoonz, but saying that out loud in front of Avery herself might end up causing a bit of panic. So instead he kept his thoughts to himself.

 

The four started heading further away from the generator, and Cartoonz quickly recognized a long structure up ahead. They were coming up to the graveyard.

 

“Uh, Avery?” Cartoonz leaned in towards her.

 

“Hmm?” Avery didn’t look away from the ground in front of her.

 

“We’re coming up to the graveyard, what do you want to do?” Cartoonz asked.

 

Avery stopped. So did the others. She looked ahead of them at the brick wall, and then at the area in front of the graveyard. It was either burning air or the risk of Mark seeing Jack’s grave. Quite honestly, Avery hated the thought of Mark seeing that half-oval stone and falling apart again, but she didn’t want to risk Delirious getting any worse than he already was.

 

The ash in the dirty air could get trapped behind his mask, and Avery was sure that violent coughing might do something to his shoulder. That alone made the decision clear.

 

“We’ll go through the graveyard,” Avery stated plainly.

 

Cartoonz looked at Avery like she was crazy, but then understanding replaced it and he glanced quickly at Delirious. Mark didn’t really care where they went, he was just enjoying the adventure that the four of them were having.

 

_ Jack would have enjoyed this,  _ Mark thought sadly.

 

He followed the other three as they took a sharp turn towards the graveyard, heading for a part of the wall that had collapsed. Mark noted the large amount of overgrowth that covered the crumbling brick, and guessed that the place was really old. Meaning that it was abandoned. His thoughts were dragged away by the mention of a familiar name.

 

“Are you sure you want to go through here? Mark might see Jack’s headstone.” Mark heard Cartoonz say.

 

Headstone. . . ?

 

Avery shook her head. “I think it would be better than going through the front. The ash could cause Delirious some problems. I don’t want to risk him bleeding out again,” she explained.

 

Delirious looked over towards the area in front of the graveyard. He understood Avery’s concern, and wasn’t willing to take that kind of risk himself. Mark was glaring at Avery, and he was just waiting for his chance to wander off. The group stepped inside the graveyard, and Delirious was looking around at the rows of grave stones planted into the ground.

 

There were so many of them, yet it seemed like the place was hardly filled. Avery and Cartoonz were still moving forward, passing by all the headstones to get through the graveyard. Delirious followed after them, though he glimpsed at a  couple of the headstones as he passed them. The fact that they included the way each person had died was interesting, but it was a little freaky for some of the reasons. Several of the headstones all said strangled, and though it didn’t say who had done it, Delirious had a pretty good idea of who was responsible.

 

Mark was following behind the others slowly, letting them pull ahead more and more, until he finally took the chance and veered abruptly off into another direction. If Jack had a headstone here, Mark wanted to find it.

 

Delirious was examining a strange headstone that was actually rectangular instead of half oval like the others, when he looked up to see where the others had gone. Avery and Cartoonz were just up ahead, but when Delirious looked around for Mark, he discovered that he wasn’t with them anymore.

 

“Uh, guys?” Delirious called to the others.

 

Avery and Cartoonz stopped and looked behind them. Delirious was staring off in the direction they had just came, and then he looked at them quickly.

 

“Mark isn’t here,” Delirious stated fearfully.

 

Avery looked around. Cartoonz walked over to Delirious. It wasn’t hard for them to lose sight of Mark, because the graveyard had a fog that was so god damn thick that they couldn’t see very much around them. They had just a few meters in diameter of vision, so it would be difficult to even find Mark.

 

“Oh dear,” Avery said. “He must have overheard you Cartoonz, and now he’s gone to look for Jack’s. . .” her voice faded.

 

“Well, we have to find him, otherwise he might get left behind and we’ll never see him again!” Cartoonz spoke with determination, and Delirious nodded in agreement.

 

After Mark had wandered off, he started looking at each and every single headstone he passed, searching for a familiar name. It wasn’t until he saw the bright acid green that Mark stopped. He stared at the bright green color that stood out so discernibly against the darker colors and thick fog.

 

Mark slowly stepped toward the smooth, perfectly carved rock. He saw there was no writing on it, just the green, black, and blue paint that made Septic Sam; Jack’s symbol. Mark stood quietly in front of the headstone while the memory of him first meeting Jack played through his mind.

 

Then the memory contorted and he was seeing red. The red of blood that stained his hands as he held a dying Jack in his arms. Mark was hearing Jack’s faint whispers again as his strength had been diminishing, and he wished he could have felt that final kiss once more. Mark fell to his knees and pressed his face into his hands. Then he realized that there was something different about the memory this time. Avery was there, but she wasn’t doing anything. She was just sitting there, crying, when she could have been doing something to possibly save Jack. She could have redeemed herself for bringing them all there. Again the thought that he was missing something extremely important prodded at Mark’s brain, but he ignored it.

 

Anger flared inside Mark’s eyes and a wave of heat coursed throughout his body. He knew where he was; he was in a graveyard inside a videogame. He knew what he was doing; he was standing up again and slipping his hand into his pocket to pull out the pocket knife. He knew what he was going to do next; get revenge.

 

Mark was going to kill Avery.

 

He was so blinded by his grief that he could no longer see what had really happened. The only thought that occurred to Mark now was that Jack’s death was entirely Avery’s fault, and that she had to pay the price for it. It was an eye for an eye. Or in this case, a life for forgiveness.

 

Delirious, Avery, and Cartoonz had separated to look for Mark, but Cartoonz wasn’t actually letting Delirious too far out of his sight. If Mark went bonkers, then he might end up hurting someone unintentionally. Cartoonz knew that he could be being over dramatic and possibly a bit too protective, but you never knew what could happen until it did.

 

Suddenly Delirious stopped and Cartoonz froze.

 

“I know you’re following me, dude,” Delirious said. He turned in a circle to locate him, and then looked directly at Cartoonz. “Is there any specific reason as to why?” Delirious asked.

 

Cartoonz gave up and walked over to him. “I don’t know what could happen. I guess that I’m just a little afraid that Mark might end up hurting someone.”

 

“So, you’re saying Mark might go crazy?” Delirious checked. Cartoonz nodded. “You’re being a bit skittish, Cartoonz. I’ll be fine,” Delirious claimed.

 

“Well, how am I supposed to know that?” Cartoonz demanded.

 

He didn’t see Delirious slip his mask up and was a bit startled when he kissed him. Cartoonz blinked at Delirious with slight puzzlement.

 

“Will that make you shut up?” Delirious teased.

 

Cartoonz raised an eyebrow at him. “You think it will?” he asked.

 

Delirious shrugged. “No, but it was worth a try,” he said, pulling his mask over his face again.

 

Suddenly, there was a scream that made the both of them jump, and Delirious and Cartoonz immediately knew that it wasn’t from The Nurse, but from Avery. The raced in the direction of her cry and found her struggling to get away from something. No. . . some _ one _ !

 

“Mark?!” Delirious gasped.

 

Mark was holding Avery by the leg, but she reluctantly kicked him in the face to get away. She scrambled over the ground and ran over to Delirious while Cartoonz charged at Mark, who had stood up again. Cartoonz lunged at him and pulled Mark to the ground, where he pinned him down with his body weight. Delirious took Avery several yards away, and asked what happened.

 

“I don’t know! He just attacked me all of a sudden!” Avery panted, her eyes wide with shock, fright written all over her face.

 

“IT’S ALL YOUR FAULT!” Mark was shouting, struggling beneath Cartoonz, who wasn’t letting him up. “JACK IS DEAD BECAUSE OF YOU! HE WOULD STILL BE ALIVE IF YOU HADN’T BROUGHT US ALL HERE! YOU’RE THE ONE WHO SHOULD BE GONE!” Mark started fighting against Cartoonz, clawing at his arms and attempting to shove him off.

 

Avery’s lungs failed her as she stared at Mark, resentment showing in his eyes. Delirious looked at her worriedly.

 

“Ow! Shit!” Cartoonz cried suddenly.

 

Mark had lost it completely and punched Cartoonz in the face to get him off. Now Mark was running towards Delirious and Avery. Delirious saw the glint of metal in his hand and realized with horror that Mark somehow had a weapon with him.

 

“Avery, stay behind me!” Delirious instructed quickly, stepping in front of her.

 

Avery hid herself behind him the best she could, but thought better of it and actually took several steps away to stay out of whatever was about to happen. Mark attempted to maneuver around him, but Delirious blocked him off and shoved him backward. He was greatly startled by the insane glint in Mark’s eyes as he stared at him, adjusting the pocket knife in his hand.

 

Cartoonz was coming up behind Mark, but Mark was the first to make a move. He lunged forward at Delirious, who tried to hold him off, but having only one arm to do so with was a disadvantage. One that Mark took great advantage in. He forced Delirious onto the ground with a quick push forward and drove the pocket knife into what must have been Delirious’ weak point; his left shoulder.

 

“DELIRIOUS!!” Cartoonz cried at Delirious’ scream of pain and grabbed Mark by the back of his shirt.

 

Avery was still horrorstruck by everything going on in front of her, and was practically frozen in place at this point. Delirious was clutching his bleeding shoulder, trying to stop it from bleeding out too much. He forced himself to roll over and get to his feet again, grabbing a stray rock from nearby as he did so. Cartoonz was trying to wrestle the pocket knife from Mark’s hand, and Delirious brought the rock down on Mark’s head, hitting him with as much force as he dared to.

 

Mark suddenly went limp and fell to the ground, the pocket knife dropping from his hand. Cartoonz snatched it up quickly before turning to Delirious, who was holding his hand against his once again bloody shoulder.

 

“You okay?” Cartoonz asked, feeling a little stupid doing so.  _ No he’s not! He was just stabbed! _ He scolded himself.

 

“Yeah, I think so,” Delirious answered. “I’m just trying to keep it from bleeding out.”

 

Delirious moved towards Avery again. She was standing stockstill yet, and Delirious had to wave his hand in front of her face to bring her back. Avery looked at Cartoonz, then at Mark who was still on the ground a few yards away, and then at Delirious.

 

“Oh my god! You’re bleeding!” she gasped, her eyes widening.

 

“It’s nothing,” Delirious lied. Although the pocket knife had been small, his shoulder was burning with pain, and he wanted to cry out from it, but was forcing himself to hold it together and remain calm.

 

“Don’t you be saying that it’s nothing, Del,” Cartoonz said sternly, crossing his arms. “I know that’s where you were hooked, and now that Mark has gone and reopened the wound, he may as well have just killed you,” he said.

 

“I’m not gonna die, Cartoonz.” Delirious argued flatly, giving Cartoonz a glare.

 

“Well, as long as you keep pressure on it like you’re doing now, then no. I think you’ll be fine, but I want to look at it just to be sure,” Avery said.

 

Cartoonz saw that Avery still looked frightened, but shock was most visible in her features now. “You doing okay?” He asked her.

 

Avery shook her head. “I don’t know. . . I’m just really. . . broken up, I guess,” she said quietly.

 

“I’m not surprised by that, though I am a little confused as to what happened just now,” Cartoonz said, looking over at Mark. “What made him snap?” he wondered.

 

“Probably Jack’s headstone,” Avery suggested gloomily. “And Mark wasn’t wrong about what he said. . . It’s true that Jack would still be alive if not for me. . .” Avery’s voice was wavering now and she started to sob lightly.

 

“Hey hey hey, don’t break down,” Cartoonz said quickly, placing his hands gently on Avery’s shoulders.

 

Avery suddenly pressed herself into his chest and started crying. Cartoonz looked at Delirious with a startled look, but Delirious only looked back at him with sad eyes. He was still holding his hand against his shoulder, but it seemed to have stopped bleeding once more. Cartoonz was feeling a bit awkward in his current position, but he tried comforting Avery with a few soft words.

 

Delirious turned away and headed back over to Mark. He hoped he hadn’t hurt him too badly, and was relieved to discover a simple bruise on Mark’s forehead. He hadn’t cracked the skin at all, and Mark was likely to be unconscious for a while. Delirious took his hand off his shoulder and pulled his sweater zipper down. The air was colder than he’d expected it to be when his chest was exposed to it, but it wasn’t freezing cold at least. How could it be when there was so much ash, smoke and small fires around?

 

Delirious sat on the ground and pulled his mask off so he could see better. He took a look at the bandages on his shoulder to find that they were pretty dark from bloodstains, and wondered when they would find another first-aid kit. It was obvious that the bandages needed changing.

 

“How’s it lookin?” Delirious looked up to see Cartoonz and Avery approaching.

 

“It’s stopped bleeding, at least,” Delirious said.

 

Avery got on the ground next to him and pulled his sweater off his left shoulder so she could examine it better. Cartoonz felt a stab of unease from the sight of the amount of bandages that were wrapped over Delirious’ shoulder and stomach. He tried once again not to think about what Delirious must have gone through when he’d been put on the hook.

 

“Mark got me, but you weren’t hurt at all, were you?” Delirious asked Avery.

 

She shook her head. “No, I’m fine. He didn’t physically hurt me.” she explained.

 

Cartoonz took note of how Avery had said “physically” in her answer. Of course she’d been mentally shocked by Mark’s sudden attack. Avery finished checking Delirious’ shoulder and she zipped his sweater back up.

 

“We should keep going,” she said. “After all the commotion, I don’t feel too safe hanging around here.”

 

Delirious picked his mask up off the ground and attempted to put it back on, but gave up and decided to just not wear it. Cartoonz looked at Mark and noticed a bulge in one of his pockets. He bent down and pulled out a flashlight.

 

“Looks like he found a box somewhere. That must be where Mark got the pocket knife then, too.” Avery guessed.

 

Cartoonz handed her the flashlight before he bent over and picked up Mark under the arms. He positioned him over his shoulders and waited for Delirious and Avery to start moving. Delirious’ shoulder still hurt from Mark stabbing it, and he was keeping his hand pressed over the injury since it seemed to help ease the pain a little.

 

Avery was keeping close to Delirious while Cartoonz was carrying Mark behind them. The search for the generators was back on, and Avery honestly wanted nothing more than to escape this hell of a game. She didn’t know how long she would be shaken up from the whole ordeal, but Avery just hoped that Mark didn’t actually know what he’d been doing. Even if he remembered what happened, Mark might actually hate the fact he did it at all.

 

Avery would find out when he woke up again.

 

The trek through the rest of the graveyard was silent, and when they finally came to the other end of it, they found a faded path that led to an opening in the brick wall. Cartoonz had to readjust Mark, since he was beginning to tire, and ended up just dragging Mark over the ground behind him.

 

Once the graveyard was out of sight, Avery turned to Delirious. “Sorry about my whole break down back there. It must have been pretty awkward for you and Cartoonz,” she said.

 

Delirious glanced back at Cartoonz. “It was a little, but I don’t blame you,” he said. “He’s piling worry onto himself.” Delirious added to himself quietly.

 

“Huh?” Avery cocked her head curiously.

 

“Cartoonz,” Delirious explained. “When we split up to look for Mark, he was following me around. He said he was afraid Mark might hurt someone.” Delirious went quiet for second. “I guess he was right to.”

 

“I don’t blame  _ him _ for being worried about  _ you _ , quite honestly,” Avery said. “I mean, if I’m right with my guess on what’s going on between you two-”

 

“What do you mean ‘going on between us’?” Delirious interrupted suddenly.

 

Avery rolled her eyes. “I heard some of the stuff you two were whispering when we met up again. And don’t think I didn’t pick up on your actions after the whole running off deal back on the MacMillian Estate.” Avery looked at Delirious smugly.

 

Delirious had to think about what she meant for a bit and then realized that Avery was talking about when he’d wandered off not long after Cartoonz and Mark showed up at the shed. Avery was just guessing on Cartoonz’s confession.

 

“Can I get in on this conversation?” Cartoonz came up behind them.

 

“She knows, man,” Delirious said.

 

“Knows what?” Cartoonz asked.

 

“About us,” Delirious explained flatly.

 

“Oh,” Cartoonz looked at Avery. “For how long?” he asked.

 

Avery shrugged. “Not very, just since Delirious had his crazy runoff back on the Estate map,” she said. “I’m just finding it really weird how much has changed from when we first met.” She added a moment later.

 

“I thought you said you didn’t ship it?” Delirious thought back to the treehouse.

 

“I said that I don’t ship you with Evan.” Avery reminded him. “I never said anything about you and Luke.”

 

“Wait, so-” Delirious started.

 

“That’s all I’m sayin,” Avery stated bluntly.

 

Delirious and Cartoonz looked at each other. Cartoonz gave his boyfriend an awkward smile, to which Delirious huffed. He decided to try putting his mask on again, though it was mainly to hide the fact that his face was turning a little pink. Delirious succeeded in getting his mask on this time, and then he slipped his hand into his sweater pocket. He couldn’t feel much in his shoulder anymore, so he really didn’t need to hold it to keep the pain down.

 

“Delirious, do you still have the tools?” Avery asked suddenly.

 

“Huh?” Delirious looked and saw Cartoonz had the bag.

 

“There’s a hook up ahead.” Avery pointed.

 

Delirious looked ahead of them and saw the hook. Cartoonz handed him the small bag and Delirious went ahead of the others. He started fiddling with the items inside the bag until the hook was up in flames and then went to catch up with Avery and Cartoonz.

 

They hadn’t gone too far, and were in fact by a generator Delirious could just about see from the now burning hook. Cartoonz had lay Mark down and was making sure no extra harm had come to him while he’d been dragged over the ground. He stuck by Mark as Delirious and Avery worked on the generator.

 

Delirious was concentrating harder than usual, and Avery was just trying to focus on anything other than Mark. Cartoonz was just watching the other two as well as looking around to check the area when his attention was suddenly drawn to Mark. After a few more seconds, Mark moved ever so slightly and Cartoonz tensed. He had to be ready for in case Mark tried to attack again.

 

“Jack!” Mark gave the sudden cry as his eyes flew open and he shot upward into a sitting position, panic written over his face.

 

Suddenly hearing Mark’s voice out of nowhere startled Avery and she jumped rather violently. There was a fizzy sound, and then an explosion erupted from Avery’s side of the generator.

 

“Shit, I’m sorry!” she apologized quickly.

 

“It’s not your fault,” Delirious assured her as he moved them both away from the generator. “But we have to get out of here!”

 

Cartoonz was hauling Mark to his feet to start running when there was a loud screech. Mark now looked confused and didn’t seem to be catching anything that Cartoonz was saying to him. Then The Nurse teleported again and her loud screech followed by a pained gasp was clear in everyone’s ears.

 

“Mark, just run with us!” Cartoonz instructed desperately, moving away from Mark a little.

 

Mark looked at him and followed, no longer looking confused or panicked, but regretful. The two went after Delirious and Avery. The moment they were close, The Nurse materialized in front of them. Delirious, who was in front, skidded to a halt that almost rammed him right into her.

 

The Nurse was quick to turn around and swing at whoever seemed closest, but Delirious ducked just in time and jumped away from the killer. She moved forward smoothly, taking another swing at Avery, who yelped and then bolted from the scene. To their slight horror, Mark ran after her, but when Delirious and Cartoonz tried to follow, The Nurse chased them off in the opposite direction.

 

Avery had stopped running and was now hiding inside a small cranny between two rocks. She held her breath as she waited for the sound of The Nurse’s screeches to end, giving the all clear. What she wasn’t expecting, or hoping, to hear was Mark.

 

“Avery?” Mark’s voice was low, so it could only reach out so far. But it sounded awfully close. “Avery, I just want to talk,” Mark said.

 

_ Do you? _ Avery thought bitterly, but she peeked around the edge of the rock to look for Mark. He was standing just a few meters away, but his back was to her. Avery started reaching for the flashlight for in case she would have to clobber Mark like Delirious had, but paused when Mark moved.

 

“Look, I’m really sorry for what happened back at the graveyard. I wish that there was a way I could make up for it.” Mark spoke with a slightly wavered voice. “I mean, I know that I hurt Cartoonz and that I probably almost killed Delirious, but it had been you that I was going for and. . . I know that’s something you can’t just let go.”

 

Mark’s words smacked Avery hard in the face, and she blinked in astonishment at how much Mark was coming out.

 

“If you aren’t willing to forgive me,” Mark continued, and Avery stiffened with fear when she saw him pull something out and realized that it was the pocket knife. “Then that’s fine,” Mark said.

 

Avery didn’t know how Mark had gotten his hands on the pocket knife again after Cartoonz had taken it away, but that wasn’t what mattered at the moment. She was quite possibly in a huge amount of danger, and with Cartoonz and Delirious still missing, Avery was on her own. She was about to try running when Mark sighed sadly.

 

“I don’t even know if you can hear me, but I guess that what I’ve done can’t be forgiven. I caused some pretty serious damage after all.” Mark’s voice was getting choked up, and Avery actually felt her heart ache. “At least now I’ll be with Jack.” Mark finished.

 

Avery’s eyes widened at the words as she quickly realized what they meant. “Mark, don’t!” Avery cried, jumping out from her hiding spot and reaching for Mark as he was about to stab himself with the knife.

 

Mark stopped and spun around to face Avery, who was panic stricken and had her hand outstretched to grab the pocket knife.

 

“Avery. . .” Mark breathed. “I-”

 

“No, don’t,” Avery stopped him quickly. “I heard every word you said.”

 

Mark looked at the ground, then at the pocket knife, which he closed and tossed to Avery. “Probably best if I didn’t have that,” he said.

 

“How did you even get it back?” Avery asked, looking at the small item in her hand.

 

“Best if I kept that to myself. It’s one of my specialties,” Mark said guiltily.

 

Avery didn’t press him, but she did ask, “Why did you talk like that?”

 

“Like what?” Mark was confused.

 

“They way you ordered your words and even your tone, it sounded almost as though you didn’t want to do those things.” Avery explained.

 

Mark realized what Avery was talking about. “Yeah, I don’t actually know what came over me.” Mark went and sat down on the rock Avery had been hiding behind. “I don’t know what it was, but I just felt this crazy hatred and a sudden desperate urge for revenge, but I. . .” Mark put his head in his hands and rubbed his eyes behind his glasses.

 

“You had us all worried,” Avery said, joining Mark on the rock. “After you suddenly didn’t recognize Delirious, we were all confused.”

 

“I guess that him hitting me on the head with a rock knocked my senses straight again.” Mark chuckled, awkwardly running his hand through his red hair, revealing the dark bruise on his forehead. “I don’t suppose that this is one of those ‘forgive and forget’ situations, is it?” Mark asked.

 

Avery shook her head. “No, I wouldn’t think so,” She said. “But we’re moving past it?”

 

“Can we?” Mark asked, looking at her hopefully.

 

Avery gave him a smile. “Yeah.”

 

Meanwhile, Delirious and Cartoonz had miraculously managed to lose The Nurse by chance, but were now both in a panic trying to to find Avery and Mark. They weren’t sure if Mark was still going through his insanity episode, and after Cartoonz discovered the pocket knife was gone, they knew that Avery could be in serious danger.

 

“She’s over there!” Delirious whispered suddenly.

 

Cartoonz snapped his gaze over to where Delirious was looking and saw Avery too. But then he saw Mark just behind her. Delirious must have realized that something was different, because he tried to grab Cartoonz as he started to charge towards Mark. Delirious failed to grab him, though, and Cartoonz ended up tackling Mark fully head on.

 

Avery yelped with surprise when Cartoonz came barreling out of nowhere. Mark’s eyes were wide with fright as he was pinned against the ground by the older man.

 

“Cartoonz, wait!” Delirious exclaimed, running over and pulling Cartoonz off of Mark.

 

“What do you mean ‘wait’?!” Cartoonz demanded. “He could have killed you back there!”

 

“Yeah, but does he look like he’s trying to kill anyone now?” Delirious asked, forcing Cartoonz to look at Mark.

 

Mark had pushed himself away over the ground a little, and he was breathing heavily. There was a hint of fear in his eyes as well. Cartoonz blinked with the sudden realization of how different Mark suddenly appeared, and he calmed down a little bit.

 

“What exactly happened?” He asked, looking at Avery.

 

Avery pulled out the pocket knife and gave it back to Cartoonz. “We got things figured out.” she answered.

 

Cartoonz caught the small item and looked at it, then at Avery again. “You sure?”

 

“I know what I did and I greatly regret it,” Mark said, standing up. “I hope I didn’t hurt you too badly?” He looked over at Delirious, who shook his head.

 

“It stopped bleeding pretty quickly,” he said.

 

Mark let out a relieved sigh. But Cartoonz wasn’t looking too happy. He was about to give an angry retort when Delirious put his hand on his shoulder. Cartoonz looked at him, and Delirious shook his head.

 

“Let it go,” he said quietly. “There’s no point in fighting anymore.”

 

“Delirious is right,” Avery agreed. “If we just argue about this, we’ll never get out of here.”

 

Cartoonz looked between Mark, Delirious, and Avery, and then he sighed. “All right, I’ll push it aside, but only for now.” He stated.

 

Mark nodded his understanding. Cartoonz slid the pocket knife into his jacket, and then Avery started off in the direction opposite the generator they had just been at. She wasn’t willing to take the risk, and The Nurse had seemed to just randomly disappear. As they were walking, Cartoonz wasn’t taking his eye off of Mark, and Mark was starting to grow a little uncomfortable being under his burning gaze.

 

Delirious could sense tension coming from Cartoonz, so he nudged him with his arm. Cartoonz cast him a short glare, and Delirious tried to look offended.

 

Cartoonz raised an eyebrow. “What are trying to do?” He asked.

 

“Help you relax, maybe?” Delirious teased him lightly.

 

“Well, you’re not doing a very good job of it,” Cartoonz stated accusingly.

 

“Hey, I’m doin’ my best!” Delirious grumbled.

 

Cartoonz chuckled.

 

“What?” Delirious looked at him suspiciously.

 

“Nothin,” Cartoonz shrugged. “Just that it almost seems like you’re trying to copy me.”

 

“Copy you?!” Delirious was taken aback. “What are you talking about?”

 

“I’m talking about how  _ I _ was the one trying to make  _ you _ feel better at that generator, and now  _ you’re _ the one doing the same with me!” Cartoonz explained gruffly.

 

Delirious went silent for a moment. “Isn’t that what friends are for?” He leaned in closer to Cartoonz. “Or did you forget that we’re more than that?”

 

Cartoonz rolled his eye at the remark, and he pushed Delirious away playfully. Delirious laughed at his reaction before walking in silence.

 

Avery looked back at the two before she started looking for another generator or possibly a hook again. The way they interacted with each other now was different from before in some way, but Avery couldn’t put her finger on it. How was it different? She didn’t know how they acted around each other outside of YouTube, so how could she know? She wasn’t 100% sure about their relationship

 

Mark may have apologized, but he felt that what he’d done wasn’t easily forgiven. And why wouldn’t it be? He could have possibly ended up killing Delirious, and even though he was fine now, what happened could have ended differently. Cartoonz definitely wasn’t pleased with how he’d had to let the event go, and Mark could sense the loathing in his stare. He was thankful when Avery pointed out a hook up ahead.

 

Delirious ran up to it, and Avery followed him. She started helping Delirious with setting the hook on fire, while Mark was attempting to keep his distance from Cartoonz. Cartoonz decided to let Mark be and he walked past the hook, which was now sparking up. It burst into flame a second later, but he didn’t look back.

 

He was looking ahead at something that the firelight was reflecting off of. When the flames had engulfed the hook, something up ahead suddenly appeared. It looked like metal.

 

“Hey, I think there’s another generator up there!” He called back to the others.

 

Avery came over to see for herself, and then Mark and Delirious came up behind her.

 

“Okay, I guess that takes us closer to escaping,” Avery said, looking hopeful.

 

Before the group could head towards the generator, though, there was a loud screech. The Nurse had found them again, and she was quickly in front of the four. The Nurse brought her bonesaw down on Avery, but Mark pulled her out of harm’s way before she was hit.

 

“Just split!” Avery ordered suddenly, startling the others. “She can only go after one at a time, so it would be best if we just met up later!”

 

It took a moment of hesitation, but Mark, Delirious, and Cartoonz took off in separate directions while Avery ran in another.


	7. Stuck In A Situation

Mark hadn’t exactly like the idea of splitting up, but Avery knew more about the game than he did, so it could only be the smartest option right now. He looked back at the others as they headed off in other directions before taking off in his own. Hopefully the heat would die down and they could all reunite soon. Mark didn’t like the thought of being alone for too long, because he was afraid that he might go crazy again.

 

After Delirious had hit him with a rock, knocking him out, his mind had been set straight. He knew now that what he’d been missing while his mind was off was that Avery hadn’t brought them all there on purpose, and that she had also  _ tried _ to save Jack, and that Jack was the one who stopped her from doing so. That was the one thing that had Mark confused. Why had Jack stopped Avery from trying to help?

 

These confusing thoughts had been going through Mark’s head ever since he had made up with Avery, but now they weren’t his concern. Getting away from The Nurse was his concern right now. She had chosen to go after him, and Mark wasn’t exactly hopeful on getting away. But to his surprise, The Nurse made a sudden turn and teleported away.

 

Mark stopped and waited. He wasn’t sure if she had gone ahead to cut him off or went after one of the others. He was all alone for the time being, and he was starting to feel the anxiety creeping into him, messing with his mind. Mark shook his head before he slowly made his way over to a bent over tree. The trunk was snapped at the bottom, so the blackened tree was lying almost flat on the ground, since some of it was still attached to what was left for a stump.

 

Mark could still see the faint firelight from the burning hook, but he wasn’t heading back to it. It he knew the others, they wouldn’t go back to where they split up. Avery hadn’t said to, and unless she had, then everyone had to meet up again by chance. Mark sat down under the tree to rest, his head throbbing where Delirious had left a large bruise.

 

_ Was it the only way to stop my rampage? _ Mark wondered, thinking back to the strangely blurry memory of getting hit on the head with something cold and hard. He saw a flash of blue, and then everything went black. That was all that had been left of his craze moment.  _ I guess it was, then.  _ Mark thought.

 

He waited a couple of minutes before standing up again and looking for something that might help him. Avery had said that she had found a note inside the Asylum saying that there were only five generators, and got frustrated when she realized that she may as well have just passed one. Mark may have been a little out of it at the time, but he’d still  been picking up on what the others had been saying.

 

Mark wandered until he saw a large gray structure that must have been the Asylum. He turned towards it and walked along the wall until he came across a window he could climb through. Hopefully he would find the generator that Avery believed was here, and then maybe Cartoonz might not detest him as much. Mark couldn’t let himself get his hopes up, though, because there might not even be a generator here.

 

Wandering through the hallways was leaving Mark with strange theories as to what happened here. With all of the broken bed frames and ripped up, blood stained mattresses everywhere, he was getting the feeling that something occurred after whatever fire had torn through the building. The walls were scorched black in places, and the floor didn’t look very stable in others. The entire Asylum was a mess, and that was really the only thing that Mark would let himself pick up on.

 

It was only the first floor that Mark was currently exploring, and he chose to ignore the few staircases he came across heading up to the second floor of the building. The one staircase that he came across that was slightly unexpected, went down. Mark stood at the top of it, staring down into what must have obviously been the basement. It was emitting a strange feel, one that was different from the others.

 

Mark looked around him nervously, wondering where The Nurse was at the moment. Hopefully, nowhere near him. Slowly, Mark took a step forward, placing his foot cautiously on the first step. It was lightly dusted with some kind of sand, and so was the rest of the staircase. Mark carefully made his way down into the basement where he immediately felt a drastic change in the temperature. It was nearly freezing, while it was rather warm upstairs and almost unbearably hot outside.

 

Mark shivered from the instant cold and he decided to stay at the bottom of the steps. The first thing he noticed about the basement, which was fairly large, was that there were zero hooks. Instead there was a single noose hanging from the ceiling, and the rest of the room was entirely empty. Except for one thing in the corner that soon caught Mark’s attention.

 

It was some kind of shelf built into the wall, and there were three pockets large enough to fit a human. And that was exactly what they held. Mark stared at the three rotting bodies that were oddly familiar to him. He recognized one of them as Dwight, one of the characters in the game, and supposed that the other two were also from the game.

 

The basement was starting to give him the complete creeps, so Mark chose to turn around and head back upstairs. He welcomed the warmer temperature with a sigh before he started looking around again. Mark wandered around the first floor of the Asylum for a bit longer before heading up to the second. It was freakier than the first floor, and Mark finally decided to just leave the Asylum all together. But when he tried to find a way out, he couldn’t even locate a staircase down to the first floor again.

 

Jumping out a window from the second floor shouldn’t have been a problem either, but once again, Mark couldn’t locate one. He was lost inside the hallways of the Insane Asylum, and considering the earlier events from the graveyard, being trapped here wasn’t really the best situation.

 

Mark had gotten himself stuck in the worst kind of situation that he could get himself into. Without an escape route from the Asylum, the chances of The Nurse finding him may as well be greater. What was worse, if he couldn’t find a way out, he couldn’t find the others. It would have to be them that find him, and Mark didn’t actually think that chance was likely.

 

But perhaps he wouldn’t have to worry about that, because when Mark had gone through the security room in the center on the second floor, he finally spotted an opening in the wall that led outside. It wasn’t a window, but it was still technically a way out. Mark picked up the pace and was soon running towards the opening, getting excited at the thought of finally getting out of this burnt up building.

 

Before Mark reached the gap in the wall, however, the was a sudden lurch beneath him and he yelped with surprise as the floor crumbled beneath him. Mark tried to grab hold of what floor hadn’t suddenly collapsed underneath him, but he missed and fell with the rest of the rubble.

* * *

When Mark opened his eyes again, he found himself half buried in crumbling concrete. He pushed himself out from underneath the rubble he’d fallen down with, and though it was painful, he managed. Once he was free, Mark examined the damage he’d taken from the fall. It didn’t seem to be anything more than a few scratches and other bleeding cuts. He struggled to his feet and looked around.

 

There were walls all around him, and Mark couldn’t see a door. It appeared that the only way out was through the hole in the floor above him. He guessed he was in what was an unfinished room of the Asylum, and just hoped that he would be found soon. Mark seemed to be having a lot of hope with things here.

 

He tried climbing up the piles of rubble to reach the opening, but even when he stacked what he could pick up, he couldn’t get high enough. Mark stared upward through the gap, listening to the sound of his racing heart and whatever else was up there. It was quiet, and Mark wasn’t even sure if there was anyone or anything else inside the Asylum.

 

“HEY!” Mark yelled out of desperation. There was no answer, just the echoing of his own voice bouncing off the Asylum’s stone walls.

 

This was just fantastic.

 

He was trapped.


	8. Delirious Until Dead

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry that this chapter is a bit late. The whole Archive shutting down for the cleaning or whatever that was kind of threw me off and I forgot to get back on to publish this chapter. I remembered now, so, here it is!

Delirious was hesitant to run, mostly because he was hating the thought of separation from Cartoonz. Mark was no longer really his concern, since he seemed to have returned to his proper senses or whatever. Cartoonz gave Delirious a fearful look before the two of them followed Avery’s instructions and ran in different directions.

 

Delirious ran past the generator and kept going, not stopping even when he heard The Nurse’s screech ahead of him. He veered suddenly to the side to dodge around The Nurse when she appeared, almost slipping on some mud. Delirious continued to run, not daring to look behind him to see if The Nurse was somehow following after him.

 

It was only when Delirious was out of breath that he finally stopped running. He looked around to make sure that he was safe, and then let himself fall onto the ground. He lay flat with his hand clutching his heaving chest, and was trying to slow his breath so he could hear around him. For several minutes, Delirious just lay there, panting lightly from his run. His legs ached, and so did his shoulder, and he didn’t really want to get up or even move.

 

But Delirious knew that he couldn’t just sit there doing nothing; the others were still out there, looking for each other. Delirious opened his eyes and he immediately gasped. Spinning around quickly into a standing position, Delirious stared up at the large metal door in front of him. He’d found an exit gate by chance, and that just made things easier. As long as he remembered the basic surroundings, he should be able to find it again easily, aiding himself and the others to their escape. All that was really left to do was find the others and finish the rest of the generators.

 

Delirious turned around to look out into the black forest, trying to figure out which way to head first. The sooner he found someone, the better. He started walking out into the trees slowly, being cautious about anything that moved. Each small movement caused by a light breeze or even the softest sound was suddenly a possible threat, and Delirious thought that he might just go crazy, like Mark had, from it.

 

Delirious walked for a while until he saw a small object nearby and went over to investigate. He’d been lucky enough to at least come across one of the boxes around the map, and he started digging through it. He eventually found a small container filled with some food, which he was tempted to eat, but instead put the small container into the bag with the rest of the items. Although he was pretty hungry at the moment, Delirious wasn’t going to be selfish. He was going to save what food was in the small container for when he was reunited with the others, that way they could at least split what was there.

 

Delirious didn’t wander far from the box before he heard movement somewhere ahead of him. It didn’t sound like a simple breeze or even himself, but more like someone else. One of the others? Hopefully. What else could it be? The Nurse couldn’t possibly make a noise like running, could she? She floated an inch or so above the ground, so how that would even be possible was confusing. Delirious moved at a slower pace than before, approaching the area ahead of him cautiously.

 

The area was quiet, with the only sign of something or someone else having been there the faint footprints in the ground. Delirious couldn’t make who had made them, but it must have been Mark or Cartoonz.

 

“Hello?” Delirious called out carefully, looking around him slowly, his eyes peeled on each burnt tree and shriveled bush.

 

The response that Delirious got was unexpected, as it was distant, but sounded a lot like crashing. Delirious looked quickly in the direction of the sound and went over to it. He found the Asylum looming far above him, and was quick to head inside. The place was a total mess, with mattresses littered everywhere and the bloodstained walls made Delirious uneasy. The dirty, gray stone floor and walls worked against Delirious as he walked, forcing each silent step he took to echo through the corridors.

 

With his faint footsteps being enough to send light noise through the building’s hallways, Delirious breathed as lightly as he could, almost holding his breath just so it wouldn’t alert The Nurse he was here. If she was here as well, that is. Delirious wasn’t really taking any chances.

 

One thing that got Delirious a little excited was the cry that suddenly filled the corridors. It sounded like Mark’s voice, but what got Delirious worried was how desperate it sounded. Delirious ignored his worry and started running towards Mark’s echoing cry, his own footsteps thudding loudly around him as he pounded up the stairs to the second floor.

 

“Hello?” Delirious stopped when he heard Mark’s voice again. He tried to pinpoint it.

 

“Is someone there?” Mark’s voice came again.

 

There. Delirious found where it was coming from, but was a little horrified to find it was coming from down a large hole in the floor. He placed the bag on the ground and slid closer to the edge of the cracked and crumbled floor.

 

“Mark?” Delirious said, peering over the edge.

 

“Huh?” Mark had been looking at the pile of rubble in the hole with him, but now he looked up. “Hey! Delirious!” He sighed with relief at the sight of someone familiar.

 

“What happened?” Delirious asked.

 

“I don’t know, the floor just collapsed out from under me all of a sudden,” Mark answered. “I’m just glad to see you right now, to be honest. I thought that I might be stuck here on my own until I got out myself.”

 

Delirious huffed lightly in amusement, but then his tone was serious when he asked, “You’re not hurt, are you?”

 

Mark shook his head. “No, not too badly at least. Just a couple scrapes and cuts, but nothing else too serious,” He explained. “Although I think my leg might be bleeding again.”

 

Delirious had to think for a moment before he remembered the first injury that Mark had received on Autohaven Wrecker’s. It hadn’t really been a problem after they’d moved on to Coldwind Farm, so now that it might have reopened was a bit of a concern.

 

“All right, well, I’m gonna do what I can to help, but I don’t think that getting you out of there is something I can do right now,” Delirious said.

 

Mark gave him a forlorn look. Delirious then remembered the food he’d found and went back to the bag to retrieve it. He tossed it down to Mark.

 

“I found this on my way over here. You might find it more useful at the moment,” Delirious said as Mark caught the small container of food. “I’m gonna go find something that will hopefully help to get you out of there, okay? Think that you can manage a little longer here?” He asked.

 

“I don’t know, but I trust you.” Mark sighed.

 

Delirious lifted himself to his feet again and, leaving the bag behind since he would (hopefully) return, went off to search for something useful or even better. Finding one of the others to help him with this situation would be better, since they would be able to use both arms. Delirious growled at himself for thinking about what he couldn’t do now that his left arm was paralysed.

 

Once outside the Asylum, Delirious chose to start heading back towards the generator where they had all split to begin a more proper search. He would be looking for Avery or Cartoonz while he was heading over there of course, but from the generator, he could try following the path that one of them had taken in their escape. The only thing that would prevent Delirious from getting to that point was if he found Cartoonz or Avery or The Nurse managed to get ahold of him.

 

Except it was neither of those cases for Delirious. What stopped him was the sight of a hook. If he’d brought the bag with him, then Delirious could have set fire to it. Then he suddenly realized that the firelight could be used as a flare to lead someone else over here. Delirious growled at himself again out of frustration for having not thought about it before leaving Mark back in that hole inside the Asylum.

 

He was about to actually turn around and head back when Delirious noticed something about the hook ahead of him. There was something hanging from it, and when he stepped closer, Delirious’ eyes widened with horror. It was Cartoonz’s jacket, and the hook was protruding through the shoulder of it, the tip of the black metal dripping slightly with blood.

 

Delirious raced over to the hook and pulled the leather jacket off. The inside was stained dark red from the blood, and Delirious was starting to feel panic rising inside him. Cartoonz couldn’t be dead, could he? There was no way he was gone. . . Delirious wouldn’t let himself believe it. He loved him, and there was no way he was going to lose him like Mark had Jack. He couldn’t.

 

Well, Mark couldn’t lose Jack, but he had. There was something different and strange about the hook in front of Delirious, though. If Cartoonz had been killed, why was his jacket still here? Surely it would have gone with him, right? And what about the blood on the hook? Why was it all there was? There was a chance that Cartoonz was still alive and out there somewhere, but the blood made it obvious that he was now hurt, and it was how badly that had Delirious worried. Because he didn’t know, it made things worse, and Delirious more desperate to find him.

 

The blood on the hook was still pretty fresh, so there was a chance that Cartoonz wasn’t too far away. Delirious knew that he had to get back to Mark, but if Cartoonz was still alive and not so badly injured, then he could help get Mark out of that hole.

 

“Cartoonz?!” Delirious called, throwing caution to the wind as he shouted loudly. Delirious searched the ground and saw a faint trail of blood and followed it. It could only belong to Cartoonz, since he was the one who’d been put on the hook. But because there was so little blood and Delirious had never heard a scream, then he must be okay, right? But. . . what if Cartoonz had forced his scream of pain down so that nobody heard him, specifically Delirious? Delirious shook the thought from his head. “No, Cartoonz, you wouldn’t do that just for me, would you?” he mumbled to himself.

 

Delirious didn’t get far before he heard the horribly familiar ear piercing shriek of The Nurse. He looked frantically around for her, trying to figure which way to run. Finally, Delirious spotted her, but it was too late that he did, for she was just feet in front of him. Before Delirious could even make a move to start running, his mask was knocked off and it landed on the ground a few feet away. Then he saw a splash of blood.

 

Whether it was his or not, he didn’t know.


	9. The Luck Of CaRtOoNz

Cartoonz cast Delirious a fearful look before the two of them took off. He hated leaving him, but Avery said that The Nurse could only go after one person at a time, so splitting up was really the best option right now. No matter how much he hated it, Cartoonz left the others and ran what he believed was towards the Asylum. If he could find the large building, then maybe if The Nurse chased him he could easily lose her?

 

The loud screech behind him told Cartoonz that The Nurse had chosen him for her target, and he started running faster. He ran until there was a sudden blast of air that blew past him. The Nurse suddenly appeared several feet in front of him, gasping painfully from the effects of teleportation. Cartoonz skidded to a halt and turned abruptly to the right. He caught sight of a large structure and immediately knew that it was the Asylum.

 

Cartoonz started heading for it, but The Nurse had other plans and teleported once again in front of him, and she took a swing before the side effect came again. Luckily, she missed, and Cartoonz was able to run around her. Unluckily, The Nurse recovered quickly and she was just feet behind Cartoonz as he tried to escape.

 

Cartoonz wasn’t able to run far before there was a sharp pain in his leg. It gave out underneath him, and although he tried not to lose his footing and fall over, Cartoonz had to throw his hands out in front of him to stop himself from landing flat on the ground. The Nurse grabbed his jacket just as he tried to get to his feet once more, and then pulled him towards her.

 

Cartoonz was rather startled by The Nurse’s strength, as she was somehow able to hoist him over her shoulder with ease and her stride never faltered. At least not from Cartoonz struggling to get out of his jacket. If he was lucky, he would avoid being seriously injured and only his jacket would take the damage. But the position that The Nurse had him in made it difficult for Cartoonz to even try getting his jacket off. Then he saw the hook just inches behind him and started to panic.

 

Just as The Nurse began to lift him off her shoulder, Cartoonz was able to loosen his jacket at the back a little, and then there was the lurch of falling backward. Pain shot through his shoulder, but Cartoonz forced the scream down. What came as a surprise, was how little pain there actually was. It was then that Cartoonz realized that his plan had worked, and the hook had only left a long scratch on his back and a hole in his jacket.

 

The Nurse didn’t seem to notice that the hook hadn’t stabbed through her victim’s shoulder, and she drifted off to find another target. When Cartoonz was sure she was gone, he slipped his arms out of the sleeves of his torn jacket and tried to keep his landing as quiet as he could. Thankfully, he landed with a soft thud and was quick to leave the hook behind him.

 

When the hook was no longer visible behind him, Cartoonz finally stopped to take a look at what injuries he’d sustained. The scratch on his back ran down his shoulder, and it stung horribly when he touched it lightly, but it otherwise didn’t seem so bad. He could feel the blood running down his skin, and the back of his T-Shirt was stained red now with it. Cartoonz lowered himself onto the ground and discovered that the bottom of his left pants leg was suddenly missing. A small, bleeding gash was what had been left by the hit he’d taken from The Nurse earlier, but at least Cartoonz could stand steadily.

 

With The Nurse no longer his first concern, Cartoonz started looking around for Avery, Mark, or Delirious. It would be better if he found them all at once, but what were the chances of that happening? Cartoonz had stopped just outside the Asylum, so he found a way in and slowly explored the empty stone hallways. He hated the way that even the smallest of sounds ended up echoing off the walls, and when there was a louder, much more obvious noise, Cartoonz jumped.

 

He held his breath and looked around with his eye wide, trying to figure out where the sound of something crumbling apart had come from. It must have come from somewhere else in the building, because even without the echoing, Cartoonz was sure that the noise would have been magnified inside the Asylum. A short while afterwards, Cartoonz heard someone else’s voice, but he wasn’t sure whose.

 

Instead of heading towards the sounds, Cartoonz turned around and headed in the opposite direction. He knew that he might be turning away from one of the others, but what if it was actually The Nurse causing a ruckus to lead one of them over to her? Cartoonz wasn’t letting the possibility of the killers being clever enough to set up a trap or play dirty tricks down, so he was either being really stupid, or extra careful.

 

Cartoonz stopped when he came across what appeared to be some kind of operation room. It must have been for the sick patients at the Asylum, but it wasn’t in use anymore. Cartoonz rummaged through the broken drawers and was a little surprised to find some bandaging. Normally they would only be inside the first-aid kits that you would be lucky enough to find in one of the boxes scattered over the map. Glancing out the door quickly, Cartoonz took a small roll, which was strangely clean for how long it must have been inside that drawer.

 

He wrapped some of it around the wound on his leg before cutting it off and then slipping what was left on the roll into one of his pockets. Cartoonz started rooting through everything else in the room, getting lucky to find some kind of secret storage compartment. He took one of the bloodstained knives that was stored in the back of the compartment, and then left the room, feeling that with a weapon, he would be able to defend himself or one of the others better. It was why all these useful items were lying about that had Cartoonz a little confused.

 

Cartoonz left the Asylum and started back for the hook, hoping to get his jacket back. He saw some movement before reaching the hook, and paused to try to figure out what it was. He didn’t see it again, but he had the feeling that whatever had made it was still nearby.

 

“Cartoonz?!” came the ever familiar voice of Delirious.

 

It sounded frightened and a little desperate, and then Cartoonz realized that Delirious must have found his jacket first and possibly thought that he was either severely injured or even dead. Cartoonz ran in the direction of Delirious’ cry, hoping that he wouldn’t draw unwanted attention to himself. When he heard the shrill screech of The Nurse, Cartoonz also managed to find Delirious. The screech had meant that The Nurse was near, and apparently she had found Delirious, too.

 

The Nurse was directly in front of Delirious, and Cartoonz put on a burst of speed to reach him sooner. But even that wasn’t enough. The Nurse swung her bonesaw at Delirious, and Cartoonz suddenly panicked at the painful yell that Delirious made. He saw blood, but forced himself to focus on The Nurse. Cartoonz pulled out the knife he’d taken from the Asylum and almost threw it at The Nurse, but instead held onto the blade’s handle and thrust it into her side.

 

The shriek The Nurse made from the pain of the injury she’d just received might have been enough to make Cartoonz’s ears bleed. He yanked the knife out of The Nurse’s side and and blocked a lunge from her bonesaw. The Nurse paused and simply glared at Cartoonz with what he could only guess was hatred, since he couldn’t actually see underneath the cloth that covered her entire face.

 

There was a grunt from the ground next to him, and Cartoonz glanced over at Delirious to see him holding his hand against his forehead. The Nurse brought Cartoonz’s attention back by throwing another attack at him, but he was able to dodge it in time. He brought the knife up and buried it deep into The Nurse’s shoulder.

 

With another shrill scream of agony, The Nurse suddenly disappeared as she teleported away, leaving Cartoonz and Delirious alone. Once she was gone and the surrounding area had fallen fairly quiet, Cartoonz went over and picked up Delirious’ mask.

 

“You okay?” He asked Delirious.

 

Delirious lowered his hand to reveal a bloody cut on his forehead, and Cartoonz nearly gasped at how much blood had already spilled from the fresh wound. He immediately pulled out the roll of bandaging he’d brought with him and got to his knees next to Delirious.

 

When Delirious realized what Cartoonz was holding, his brow furrowed with confusion. “Where the hell did you got that?” He asked.

 

“I found it inside one of the rooms in the Asylum,” Cartoonz explained, wrapping the bandage around Delirious’ head.

 

Delirious thought for a moment, letting Cartoonz tend to his injury. “H-How did you escape?” he asked, suddenly realizing how mobile Cartoonz seemed to be. “I found your jacket on that hook back there, but how were you able to get away without any injuries?”

 

“Actually, I’ve got a scratch on my back now, but otherwise I’m fine. How I got away? That was easy, I just tried slipping my jacket off, is all,” Cartoonz explained. He finished with Delirious and cut the bandage off at the end and made sure it was firm before putting the roll aside. “Did you find any of the others?” He asked.

 

“Oh, yeah! I ran into Mark, but he’s kind of stuck. I came out here again looking for you or Avery, hoping that you could help me get him out,” Delirious said. He handed Cartoonz back his jacket. “Here, you might want this. Although I don’t really think it’s any good anymore.”

 

Cartoonz took the jacket and examined the hole in the back. Surprisingly, it wasn’t very large, and he suddenly wondered just how strong the leather was. Shrugging, he put it on again, and then put the bandage roll back in his pocket. He picked up Delirious’ mask and gave it to him.

 

“Don’t know if you can wear that at all, but. . .” Cartoonz didn’t finish.

 

Delirious looked down at the mask in his hand, then back at Cartoonz. “It would probably be best if I didn’t.” He said.

 

Cartoonz nodded. “You said you found Mark?”

 

Delirious’ eyes seemed to brighten. “Oh, right! Yeah, he’s just in the Asylum. Follow me!” Delirious got to his feet and Cartoonz followed after him.

 

Delirious led Cartoonz through the building to a staircase and up onto the second floor. It was when Cartoonz saw the large hole in the floor that he was puzzled. How was Mark unable to get out? Were there walls around him or something? That’s exactly what the case was when Cartoonz looked down at Mark, who was trying figure out something with the large pile of rubble in the hole with him.

 

“Mark!” Delirious called down.

 

Mark looked up to see him and Cartoonz. “Oh, thank god you’re okay! I heard something going on outside the Asylum and got a little worried,” he said.

 

Cartoonz leaned over the edge as Mark got as high on the pile as he could and reached up for his hand. Delirious took Mark’s other hand and together he and Cartoonz were able to lift him out of the hole.

 

“What did happen out there?” Mark asked as he noticed Delirious putting his mask in the bag of tools and the bandage around his head.

 

“The Nurse happened,” Cartoonz explained. “But we’re both okay.” He looked at Mark for a moment, and then asked, “What about you?”

 

“Ah nothing too serious, just a couple cuts,” Mark said. “Where did you find a first-aid kit?”

 

“He didn’t,” Delirious looked over. “Cartoonz raided one of the rooms downstairs.”

 

“Well, it’s a good thing I did,” Cartoonz turned his head to look at Delirious. “Who knows what could have happened if I hadn’t?”

 

Delirious rolled his eyes, but his lips curved into a smile. He took the bag and stood up as Mark got to his own feet. Cartoonz looked at the two of them and then around. The Asylum was fairly silent, which meant that The Nurse wasn’t around.

 

“We should see if we can find that generator that Avery mentioned might be in here,” Cartoonz said.

 

Mark nodded in agreement. “I was trying to find it earlier, but then all I wanted to do was get out of here. That’s when I fell through the floor.”

 

“Well, at least nothing’s broken, right?” Delirious said with a little worry.

 

Mark shook his head. “No, but I would like to get out of here,” he looked around at the stone walls. “This place is giving me the creeps.”

  
Cartoonz took the bag from Delirious to carry so that he wouldn’t have so much weight on his shoulders, and the three men started searching the building for the generator.


	10. Say It From The Heart

“Just split!” Avery shouted. “She can only go after one at a time, so it would be best if we just met up later!”

 

She didn’t notice the startled looks on the others’ faces or their hesitation to run, for Avery had immediately turned to run from the scene. She didn’t know who The Nurse went after, but if she was to catch anyone, hopefully they would get away. Avery’s legs began to hurt from all the running she was doing, and she finally had to stop for a breather.

 

After giving herself several minutes to catch her breath, Avery started looking around to get her bearings. She saw a hook nearby, and then was a little surprised by the familiarity of the area past it. How the heck did she and Mark miss that? Avery was at the place where Mark had tried apologizing for what he did and almost took his own life for it. Thankfully, she had stopped him before he could do anything serious.

 

But now that Avery thought about it, that other generator was around here somewhere too. With the others most likely all the way across the map, she was alone, and would probably take longer to find them. Her best option right now was to find that generator from earlier and finish repairing it, and then she could go look for Mark, Delirious, and Cartoonz.

 

Nodding to herself, Avery started looking around for something that might symbolize metal. She caught a glimpse of something and stopped, but was disappointed to find that it wasn’t the generator. Not only was it not the generator, it was The Nurse. Now Avery was in danger. Was it just her or was the entire game against her all of a sudden?

 

Avoiding The Nurse as best as possible, Avery circled around the pile of rocks that she and Mark had made up for what happened in the graveyard at. She finally spotted the generator, whirring just slightly from what measly repairs had been made, and ran over to it. Looking around carefully for The Nurse, Avery started making the finishing repairs.

 

She tried not to panic every time she heard the screeching of The Nurse each time she teleported, and was desperately working to finish the generator when The Nurse got closer. At one point, Avery had to stop and make a run for it, but she didn’t go very far. She wasn’t going anywhere until that machine was fixed up. It happened several more times, and once, Avery was almost seen by The Nurse.

 

She held her breath and didn’t move for several minutes, and then went back to the generator. Fixing the generator while The Nurse was hanging around the area was aggravating, as it was a massive complication to her task. But after what felt like hours, Avery finally managed to finish up the repairs to the generator.

 

But then there was the fact that when the light flashed on above her, The Nurse was given the coordinates to Avery’s location, and it wasn’t long before she showed up with a loud, earsplitting screech.

 

Before long, Avery was running as fast as her legs would carry her. She thought for a moment that she might actually get away, but she had underestimated The Nurse badly, and was nearly knocked over when The Nurse cut in front of her. Letting a yelp of fright leave her, Avery tried making a sharp turn, but felt something sharp hit her in the side. Holding back her scream, Avery didn’t look back and just ran in whichever direction seemed logical.

 

She was lucky to have lost The Nurse, but there was the chance that she was actually letting her go to chase after someone else who might have triggered something. Whatever the reason, Avery was just thankful for a moment’s rest. The Nurse had cut open her side, but it wasn’t deep enough to cause any serious harm, which was a relief. Avery placed her hand over the bleeding scratch and slowly stood up once more, looking around her.

 

There was something familiar about where she was, and Avery suddenly realized that she was by the first hook she came across after waking up on the map. That would also explain why the air was so hot and made her eyes water. Avery continued in the direction she had been running, and eventually found herself at the place where they had all been reunited for the first time on this particular map. Where Mark had been having recognition issues, too.

 

Avery was suddenly heading over to where Cartoonz had seen the weird light that had led the four of them together in the first place. She found a destroyed hook, and was just slightly amazed at how much damage that the fire Delirious had obviously set to it had done.

 

“Don’t want to mess with Delirious when he’s got fire on hand,” Avery said to herself as a reminder. “In game or not.”

 

Turning away from the demolished hook, Avery made her way back the way she came, but more towards the edge of the map. Avery didn’t know why, but she had a strange urge to explore a little of the map a bit more. She kind of wished she had at least gone a different direction when she discovered something carved into a tree.

 

It looked as though it were some kind of written message, but it was sloppy and the marks were almost practically slashed into the black bark of the dead tree. Avery gasped when she realized fully what it was.

 

A message carved by Mark. Only he would write something like that.

 

_ Jack,  
_ _ I know that you will never read this, but I wanted to let you know something that I’ve been wanting to tell you. Ever since realizing my feelings for you, I wanted nothing more than to keep you safe. I guess I was expecting too much of you when I told you to go back to the shed with Avery. In a way, it’s  _ _ (scratched out) _ _ fault.  
_ _ I want to see you again and say I love you, but. . . I guess that won’t happen. Not unless I bring myself to you.  
_ __ I may see you again soon, Jack.


	11. The Finishing Touches

They searched the building, not coming up with anything for a while, but then Mark spotted something worth checking out. Thankfully it was the generator, and the three men started repairing it immediately. Of course Delirious had some trouble, but he was able to get a little extra done than what he could normally do with his injury. Once they were finished, however, Cartoonz was picking up on the strain showing in his face.

 

“You okay, Delirious?” He asked quietly once the three of them had started wandering the building in search of an exit.

 

“Yeah, just a little sore,” Delirious answered. He glanced away from Cartoonz for a moment. Cartoonz watched Delirious carefully. “No. I’m worried about Avery.” Delirious said suddenly.

 

Cartoonz rolled his eyes. “Delirious, I pretty sure that we all are.” He thought for a moment. “It’s probably an obvious answer, but why do you feel so responsible for her? Is it because she’s still a kid?” he asked.

 

“I don’t know,” Delirious sighed after a minute. “It kind of has something to do with my sister. . .”

 

Cartoonz blinked. He knew what Delirious was talking about, but he also knew that hearing him mention his sister at all wasn’t something he ever did. If he did, though, it meant something was wrong.

 

“Delirious, don’t think about that, please. I don’t want you going through that thought process again.” Cartoonz said quickly. He said it a little loudly, which made Mark look behind him at them with a furrowed brow.

 

Delirious sighed. “I know,” he said. “And I apologize.”

 

Mark was uncertain, but he looked forward again and looked around him and the other two for a possible exit. How the building was so large that they couldn’t ever find an exit right away was astounding. It was almost as though the Asylum were trying to keep them locked inside forever.

 

Was it?

 

“Hey, Mark, I think there’s a way out down there.” Cartoonz said suddenly, making Mark turn to see him pointing towards a long staircase going to the first floor.

 

Of course there would be a way out from the first floor, but this staircase went past the first floor and straight to the basement. Mark didn’t want to let Delirious and Cartoonz see that freezing horror, so he quickly veered off the steps the first chance he could, hopping down to the first floor. Cartoonz jumped off and then turned to help Delirious down. He couldn’t exactly jump down, as the fall was at least two meters or more, and the possibility of the impact affecting Delirious through his shoulder was something Cartoonz wasn’t taking the chance of.

 

“I’m fine, Cartoonz. I got it!” Delirious insisted.

 

Cartoonz flinched away from him, but helped steady Delirious when he wobbled after landing.

 

Mark continued walking. He finally found a window and practically dove through it, glad to finally be outside again. Even though the outdoors were actually a little worse than the indoors, he was just relieved to have finally escaped those echoing stone hallways. Mark waited as Delirious and Cartoonz came outside, and then there was a short moment where they all stood awkwardly.

 

“We should find Avery.” Delirious stated, moving forward.

 

Cartoonz didn't say anything and followed Delirious with Mark just feet behind him. It was nerve-wracking, how the forest gave off of spooky feel, making Cartoonz shake with fear. Delirious wasn’t noticing him shaking, but Mark most certainly was.

 

“Are you okay?” Mark asked, keeping his voice low so Delirious didn’t turn around.

 

“Yeah, I think so,” Cartoonz answered as honestly as he could. “I don’t know what it is, but I guess it’s just the feel of this forest. Shit gives me the creeps.”

 

Mark nodded, puffing air through his nose. “I can totally agree with that. I don’t like it either.” He said.

 

Cartoonz sighed. “I really just want to go home right now, but I’m afraid of what I’ll find when I get there. When we finally escape this hellhole.”

 

“You’re afraid of what happened in the accident, you mean?” Mark guessed.

 

Cartoonz nodded. “I mean, I barely remember ever even leaving the hospital let alone getting into a car accident. It was all really just a blur,” he thought for a moment. “Too much information to take in all at once. It was so overwhelming that-”

 

“That you couldn’t handle it?” Mark finished for him. “Yeah, I’ve got a rough idea of what you’re going through.” He said. They walked on for a bit, watching as Delirious looked around the area carefully for any sign of something. “How much do you care about him?” Mark asked suddenly.

 

“Huh?” Cartoonz realized that Mark was talking about Delirious, but he wasn’t sure what exactly he might. “What do you mean?” He asked.

 

“Well, Jack. . . had this thought that there might be something going on between you two. He said that he personally thought it was something more than a simple friendship.” Mark explained.

 

“Oh,” Cartoonz wasn’t sure how to answer. “I. . . Well, I’ve known Delirious for nearly eighteen years.”

 

Mark’s eyebrows inched upward. “Wow, that’s a long time.” He said, seeming just slightly impressed. “But wait, he’s only twenty-nine, though, right? That would mean. . . since he was like fourteen or something!?”

 

“Yep,” Cartoonz admitted. “We both met through his sister, whom I was dating for a while.” He followed Delirious with his eye as he examined something on the ground. “But now I really just want him-”

 

Mark didn’t let Cartoonz finish, for he had a sudden urge to just break down the wall of secrets. “You love him, don’t you?” He interrupted. “And I don’t mean as a close friend. I mean like, really really  _ love _ him.”

 

Cartoonz paused and looked at Mark for a moment. He was about to say something when Delirious called out suddenly, “Hey, I recognize this area!”

 

Mark and Cartoonz turned to watch him run off.

 

“Hey, Delirious, wait up!” Cartoonz called after him, running to catch up with Mark just behind him.

 

Delirious didn’t actually stop running until he came upon the one thing he was looking for; it was the first generator he came across not long after waking up on the map. It was barely running at all, but that was guessable.

 

“Why is it running?” Mark asked.

 

“Is this that generator you found?” Cartoonz guessed.

 

“How’d you know I found a generator?” Delirious turned to Cartoonz suspiciously.

 

Cartoonz shrugged. “Well, it’s just barely running, and you aren’t entirely useless when it comes to fixing these damned machines. So, I just figured you had found it at some point.”

 

Delirious’ eyes narrowed, scanning Cartoonz’s face for a moment. “Okay, whatever.”

 

Delirious stood aside to let Cartoonz and Mark finish the generator. While they were doing that, he kept an eye out for The Nurse and for Avery as well. It wasn’t until a cool breeze blew in his face that he realized just how stuffy his mask could get if he wore it for so long.

 

_ Geez, what the hell have I been doing? _ He wondered to himself.

 

Delirious sighed and leaned back against the tree he was standing by. Over by the generator, Cartoonz was thinking about what Mark had asked him earlier. He’d never gotten the chance to actually answer because Delirious had recognized the area and shouted about it.

 

“Hey, Mark?” Cartoonz began. Mark made a noise that signaled he was listening. “I never answered your question from earlier.” There was a second of silence. “Or, actually, I never got the chance to. But. . . yeah, I do.” He said at last.

 

Mark didn’t say anything for a moment, as he was thinking up a response. “I can guess that he feels the same way?”

 

“Yeah,” Cartoonz said. “It came as a surprise to him, though. I just didn’t know any other time to finally confess. I mean, he was all emotional and practically breaking down right there in front of me, so. . . I took the chance.”

 

“I wish I had taken the chance I got sooner.” Mark’s voice was quiet and Cartoonz barely heard it over the loud rumbling of the generator.

 

“To tell Jack, I assume?” Cartoonz guessed.

 

Mark didn’t say anything else, and Cartoonz let it go. The light finally came on and they stood. Delirious was looking back at them, the bag at his feet.

 

“Alright, let’s just get the fuck outta here. Probably could head back to where we were separated. I mean, there is a generator down there, after all.” Delirious said.

 

He went to pick up the bag, but Mark got to it first. Delirious didn’t argue and walked next to Cartoonz as they left the generator behind them. It was a bit confusing on how they never once heard The Nurse’s screech after fixing the generator. If she wasn’t coming, then she was busy with something else. Something else that could most likely be Avery, and Cartoonz could sense tension coming from Delirious as they walked towards a hook.

 

Mark, having watched Delirious set one on fire, knew what to do and started following the few simple steps that Delirious took to set fire to the entire contraption. Delirious watched quietly, and he didn’t even realize that he was going stiff until Cartoonz wrapped and arm around his shoulders.

 

“Hey, you’re holding your breath,” Cartoonz said. Delirious realized he was right and let out a puff of air. “I’m sure that Avery is fine, Del. She can handle herself.”

 

Delirious knew well enough that Cartoonz was just trying to reassure him, but he was still weary. “I know that, but. . .” Delirious sighed heavily as the hook burst into flame in front of them.

 

“That was the last of the stuff, by the way.” Mark told them after coming over. “We’re gonna want to be more careful now.”

 

“Yeah, but at least some of the hooks have been destroyed,” Delirious said. “We won’t have to worry about those ones now.”

 

With no point in carrying around the small bag anymore, Delirious gave Cartoonz his mask and he fastened it around his arm before they continued. Once again, Delirious was recognizing the area, and then he started following a familiar path. It led them to the gate, which Cartoonz felt over relieved to see. At least they knew where their escape route was now.

 

“I think I might be able to get us back to the generator from here,” Delirious stated. “I was sort of paying attention to where I was going after we split up and retreated.” He looked back in the direction of the generator, thinking about what might be an easy way back.

 

“If we walk along the wall, we should come across at some point, right?” Cartoonz tried suggesting, but Delirious shook his head.

 

“We might go too far past it. I don’t really want to get lost at all.”

 

Cartoonz could understand that, so he went with following Delirious through the forest towards the generator. Or, hopefully they were heading towards the generator.

 

_ I trust him, _ Cartoonz told himself. He didn’t know why, by his head wasn’t listening to his heart. He loved Jonathan and would trust him with his life if he had to, but for some reason his head was telling him something else. Cartoonz eventually forced himself to settle on it just being the fear of losing sight of the gate, their only way out other than the hatch. But there was only one generator left, and once it was repaired, the gate could be opened and they would finally be out of this hell-hole.  _ We’ll have to find Avery first, though. _ Cartoonz remembered.

 

As they walked, the forest was growing darker and slowly hotter. When a gust of wind blew in from across the map, it carried with it the smell of smoke and hint of ash. Was the forest catching on fire again? That. . . wouldn’t be good. If that was the case, then they better find Avery and that generator and get the hell out. And fast.

 

“There it is! I see it! . . . I think?” Delirious shouted suddenly. “Wait, generators don’t move.”

  
Cartoonz felt his gut twist with fear. Was it The Nurse? No. . . it was Avery!


	12. Desperate Search

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry that this chapter is a bit short.

Avery stared at the message carved into the bark of the dead tree. This must have been made before Mark had snapped, so. . . just how hard had he been taking Jack’s death? Really hard, from what occurred. There was the chance that Mark was still suffering, even though his episode had already passed and was over. If finding the others hadn’t been important before, it sure was now.

 

Avery thought back to the path she traveled to get to this point, and then figured out which direction she should head. She didn’t know where to start, so she decided to search while heading back to where they’d split. When she found the Asylum, from there she would try finding that generator again.

 

Avery passed the hook again and kept walking, though she would occasionally look around for signs of the others. Or The Nurse. She finally spotted the gray wall and ran towards the building, where she started following the wall around to the other side. She would look in the windows and occasionally climb through one to investigate a little of the inner Asylum. She didn’t particularly like the state the building was in after the fire and years of abandonment.

 

When Avery left the building again, this time through a doorway, she spotted something gleaming and went over to investigate. It was just another hook, but there was something different about.

 

_ Why is it that there’s always something different about it? _ Avery wondered.

 

What she found was different, was that the hook was tipped with blood. And it was still fairly fresh. Was someone else. . . dead?

 

“No, there doesn’t look to be nearly enough blood, and the ground doesn’t look stained, either,” Avery observed. The ground was all sand around this one hook, and it looked clean. “Is anyone around here?” Avery called out.

 

There was no answer, so she started moving in the direction she was sure the generator was in, this time a little faster. What got her going in the right direction was a shout.

 

“There it is!”

  
Avery couldn’t recognize the voice right away, but she hurried towards it.


	13. Breaking Point

“Hey, you guys! There you are!” Avery’s voice called to them. She appeared out of nowhere and ran up to the three. “I was looking everywhere for you guys. I thought I might find you here, and it looks like I did.”

 

“I’m glad you’re alright, Avery,” Delirious said.

 

Avery looked at him. “I wish I could say the same,” she said, looking at the bandage around Delirious’ head. “What happened to you? Nurse?” She guessed.

 

Delirious nodded. “And it looks like I’m not the only one.”

 

Avery suddenly remembered the injury she’d received on her side. She covered it with her hand.

 

“It’s nothing anymore. Was anyone else injured besides Mark over there? And what happened exactly?” Avery asked.

 

“I fell into a hole,” Mark explained.

 

“Hooked,” Cartoonz said. “Well, almost.” He added.

 

“Oh, so that explains the blood on that other hook I passed earlier,” Avery realized.

 

Cartoonz nodded. “Tore my jacket open, but otherwise left me with nothing but a simple scratch.” He said.

 

“Wait, hold on,” Delirious suddenly looked offended. “How come you get to say your injuries are minor and nothing to worry about, when I could get nothing but a small cut and you make a big deal out of it?!”

 

Cartoonz gave a harsh sigh. “That’s not at all what it is, Delirious,” He rolled his eyes towards him.

 

Delirious just glared at Cartoonz with half closed eyes.

 

“Let’s not worry about that,” Mark said suddenly. “I’m sure you guys would be able to sort out those issues once we  _ get out of here. _ ”

 

Cartoonz and Delirious jumped a little at Mark’s hard tone, and even Avery was a little startled. But they moved over to the generator in silence, and Mark was immediately repairing it. All four sides were open, so all four of them were working on the machine.

 

_ He wants to leave real badly, _ Avery thought.

 

They all did, but Avery couldn’t recall ever seeing Mark like this on anyone’s channel or in the time she’d spent with him. Losing Jack had badly affected him, and Avery felt pangs of guilt each time she thought about it.

 

Delirious hadn’t liked Mark’s sudden and slightly strange outburst at all. It had startled him, and it was the sudden flash of anger that was visible in Mark’s eyes when he’d spoken that left Delirious a little worried.

 

Cartoonz was just trying not to think about what Mark had said and how. He was thinking more about how they were  _ finally getting out of this hellhole. _ Figuring out what would happen afterwards wouldn’t do much until he knew for sure what to expect. Obviously, medical bills were something to worry about, but Cartoonz wasn’t concerning himself with that matter at the moment.

 

The blinding white light came on above them and a loud ringing filled the trees. The gate was operable, and their escape was attainable.

 

But not easily.

 

Not long after Mark, Avery, Cartoonz, and Delirious started heading back to the gate, The Nurse found them. She attack suddenly and blindly. Mark was the one who took the hit, and he was knocked to the ground.

 

“Hey, Sally, over here!” Avery cried, running away from the others.

 

This was all too familiar to Delirious, and he wasn’t going to let it happen all over again. Mark hurt, Avery distracting the killer, getting to safety and leaving her behind. It all happened on Autohaven Wrecker’s, and Avery went missing then, but Delirious wasn’t letting it happen again.

 

He ran after Avery.

 

“Delirious, where are you-” Cartoonz started saying, but Delirious and Avery were gone.

 

He had no choice but to help Mark off the ground and bring him to the gate. He had to support him, as Mark had been hit in the leg.

 

“This feels familiar,” Mark grunted.

 

“Familiar, how?” Cartoonz asked as he half dragged Mark through the trees.

 

“You wouldn’t know how. You weren’t there. But something like this occurred on the first map we played on. Autohaven Wrecker’s,” Mark explained.

 

“That’s the junkyard, isn’t it?” Cartoonz asked.

 

“Yeah,” Mark said. “Quite the dramatic occurrence, to be honest.”

 

It took a bit, but Cartoonz and Mark finally made it back to the gate. Mark tried standing on his own and kept a lookout for Delirious and Avery while Cartoonz held the lever down to open the gate. The clicking of the gears inside the door was loud and obvious, and then there was another ring and the door opened with a loud creak of metal.

* * *

“Delirious, where-”

 

Cartoonz’s voice disappeared as Delirious ran after Avery. He and Mark could now escape, but Avery had taken off and Delirious wasn’t leaving without knowing she could escape as well. He felt a weird responsibility for her, just like he had for his sister all those years ago. He followed Avery all the way back to the hook where Cartoonz had almost died, and he joined her in the bushes.

 

The Nurse had followed them, like Avery had hoped, but she was startled when Delirious appeared beside her in the tiny branches. The Nurse was scowling around the area, looking for the two “patients” that had escaped her.

 

“Why did you follow me?” Avery asked Delirious as quietly as she could, but loud enough so that he could still hear her.

 

“I didn’t want a repeat of what happened on Autohaven Wrecker’s,” Delirious explained. “I’m not leaving until I know that no one’s been left behind.”

 

Avery waited a moment, and then she gave a silent nod. Waiting until The Nurse had teleported away, Delirious and Avery took off for the gate again to meet up with Cartoonz and Mark.

 

“Mark, are you okay?” Avery asked immediately when they reached the gate.

 

“Yeah,” Mark said, nodding.

 

“The Nurse. . . ?” Cartoonz looked between Delirious and Avery.

  
“Distracted for now, I believe,” Avery said.

 

An awkward silence passed between the four.

 

_ We’re finally getting out of here, _ Avery thought. She wondered what was going on back home; what had happened.

 

Her thoughts had been wrong, fore when the group went to leave, a screech filled their ears. The Nurse popped up out of nowhere and grabbed Avery, and before Mark, Cartoonz, or Delirious knew what happened, she was gone.

 

“She took her!” Delirious gasped, running forward a few feet in the direction The Nurse teleported away in. “We have to go after them!” Delirious looked back at Cartoonz and Mark before taking off after The Nurse to rescue Avery.

 

“Delirious!” Cartoonz cried after him.

 

Delirious kept running and eventually disappeared into the trees. Cartoonz started to go after him, but then he realized that Mark was trying to follow him.

 

“Mark, you should just get out of here,” Cartoonz said. “The gate is open, your escape is easy.”

 

“No, I’m not going anywhere unless I know that the rest of you get out safely, too.” Mark claimed, standing up straight.

 

“No, I’m serious, Mark! You’re injured and should really just get the hell of here. Go home already. I can take care of rescuing Delirious and Avery myself.” Cartoonz explained rapidly.

 

“I’m-” Mark began.

 

“I’m really sorry about this, Mark.” Cartoonz interrupted. He grabbed Mark and pushed him over to the gate and tossed him through the barrier.

 

Mark was safely out of the game.

 

With Mark permanently safe from the harm of  _ Dead By Daylight _ , Cartoonz took off after Delirious. He didn’t run for very long, and when he finally caught up to Delirious, he found that Avery was in dire need of help. The Nurse was just about to throw her onto a hook. Delirious suddenly charged forward and attacked The Nurse, pushing her over a little. Avery was dropped and she ran from the danger. Avery was temporarily safe, but Delirious had just put himself in danger.

 

“Avery, over here!” Cartoonz called to the younger girl. She ran over and crouched down by Cartoonz. “You okay?” He asked.

 

“Yeah, but Delirious isn’t!” Avery gasped.

 

Cartoonz jumped to his feet and ran over to assist Delirious, but then at the last second his foot was caught in something and he fell forward.

 

“Cartoonz!” Avery cried.

 

Delirious looked over for a second and his eyes widened at the still form of Cartoonz lying on the ground. However, the quick glance had him distracted and The Nurse got a hold of him. He tried to fight back, but that only made The Nurse angry and she swung her saw at him.

 

Cartoonz had been stunned when his head had hit the ground, and when he came back into focus, he saw that Delirious was still in danger. His foot was caught in something and he couldn’t actually get up. Then he saw The Nurse swing her saw at Delirious.

 

“Delirious!” Cartoonz cried when the saw made contact with his head.

 

The Nurse threw Delirious aside, and he tumbled over the ground, landing just a few feet in front of Cartoonz.

 

“Delirious?” Cartoonz tried to reach for him, but he was just out of reach.

 

Delirious lay still, but since he was still breathing, so he was only knocked unconscious. Then, The Nurse started to glide back towards them and Cartoonz began to panic. He tried desperately to reach Delirious so he could hold on to him before The Nurse would be able to pick him up, but again he was just out of reach, and when Cartoonz tried dragging himself closer to Delirious, the pull on his foot caused him pain. He yelped and stopped moving.

 

But The Nurse didn’t. She continued getting closer and closer, and Cartoonz was beginning to think that it was over with for them both. And then suddenly, Avery was in front of him and Delirious.

 

“NO! LEAVE THEM ALONE!” Avery shouted.

 

Cartoonz froze and stared up at her in shock. Avery was protecting them.

 

“You leave these two men alone, Sally. Okay?” Avery said. “They did nothing wrong. They did nothing to you. I don’t know what your motives are, but if anyone is to die, it’s me.”

 

“Avery!” Cartoonz gasped, trying to free himself.

 

“No, Cartoonz!” Avery stopped him. “I say that I’m the one who should die because I’m the reason we’re all in this mess in the first place. All of this . . . Jack’s death, Delirious’ disability, and all the other injuries that Cartoonz and Mark had received. So, I’m begging you, Sally . . . leave them alone. Let them go free and take me instead.” Avery looked at The Nurse with desperate eyes.

 

“Avery! Don’t do this! You don’t deserve this fate!” Cartoonz protested. “Don’t just give yourself up for us!” He pleaded.

 

“I’m sorry, Cartoonz. But it’s to protect you.” Avery said softly behind her at the trapped man.

 

The Nurse was still for a minute, watching Avery intently. She finally reached out and grabbed Avery’s arm and led her away from Cartoonz and Delirious and towards the hook again. Once beneath the menacing object, Cartoonz could only watch with horror as Avery braced herself when The Nurse picked her up. He expected a scream, but there wasn’t one.


	14. Not What Was Wanted

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, so I'm hoping to have Part 5 up and going by April 10th, but I'm not entirely sure. I'm not quite done writing Part 5, but I am trying my hardest. Unfortunately, if Part 5 doesn't come out on the 10th of April, then it likely won't be out until May. Unless I can finish it at a certain time and figure out a schedule to fit however many days are left of the month.
> 
> Sorry about that (and this chapter)

Cartoonz continued to struggle after Avery was thrown on the hook. He was desperately trying to get himself free from whatever had him stuck in the first place. He needed to save Avery and grab Delirious and then get the hell out of there. But his struggling was pointless. Cartoonz stopped when the spider creature appeared around Avery and she didn’t even struggle. The claw-like thing stabbed itself right through her chest, and Avery went limp.

 

She was dead.

 

Cartoonz watched as she disappeared into the sky, and then his attention was brought back to The Nurse when she came towards him and Delirious again. Again Cartoonz tried to grab Delirious first, and again he was still out of reach. But then Cartoonz thought that The Nurse was going for him first when she bent over and went to grab him. But instead of grabbing him, she set him free. Cartoonz stared at The Nurse as she stared back at him. Then, she teleported away.

 

“What the . . . ?” Cartoonz was at a loss.

 

Avery had just been killed, but The Nurse had followed her pleads and was letting him and Delirious go. Not taking any chances, Cartoonz grabbed Delirious and carried him back to the gate. It took a while, since Delirious was surprisingly heavy. Once he reached the gate, he waited for Delirious to wake up.

 

What must have been nearly an hour later, Delirious stirred and slowly sat up. He looked around all confused and then he saw Cartoonz. Looking around again, Delirious suddenly looked concerned.

 

“Uh, Cartoonz? Where . . . where are Mark and Avery?” He asked.

 

“Mark has already escaped the game,” Cartoonz began explaining. He hesitated on the next part.

 

“And Avery?” Delirious prompted.

 

“Avery . . . she didn’t make it out.” Cartoonz said regretfully. “She’s dead.”

 

Delirious’ eyes widened. “WHAT?!” He almost got to his feet. “No, I don’t believe you!”

 

“I know that you don’t want to, Delirious,” Cartoonz said. “But it’s unfortunately true.”

 

Cartoonz then began explaining to Delirious everything that happened after he’d been knocked unconscious. The way that his face fell saddened Cartoonz quite a bit, but he couldn’t do anything about the truth.

 

“I can’t believe that she’s actually gone . . .” Delirious said breathlessly after he was finally forced to accept the reality.

 

“I know and I’m sorry, man.” Cartoonz said dully.

 

“I . . . it’s . . . fine, I guess.” Delirious mumbled, looking gloomy.

 

He stood up and started for the barrier. Cartoonz followed him. Finally, they were free from the nightmare.


End file.
